Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Killing of journalist
A GOVERNMENT prosecutor is expecting a heated exchange as the Regional Trial Court (RTC) proceeds with the murder case hearing against the alleged masterminds in the murder of journalist Marlene Esperat.
Regional State Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila said lawyers representing Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay have filed an injunction case to stop the implementation of a warrant of arrest that RTC Judge Simeon Dumdum has issued against them.
“The case has been set for oral arguments on March 5 and we will be appearing,” Ipong said.
Dumdum ordered the arrest of Montañer and Sabay, the regional finance officer and accountant of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Region 12 respectively, last Feb. 4.
This was immediately after the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolved to charge them in court here for giving the “direct orders and inducement” to kill Esperat.
The journalist died last March 24, 2005 after she was gunned down inside her house in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, in the presence of her children. She was 46.
Esperat was then the regional chemist of DA 12 but doubled as a journalist – writing a column in the Midland Review called “Madame Witness” and hosting her own radio program.
At the time of her death, she was pursuing a graft case against several DA officials, including then undersecretary Jocelyn “Jok-jok” Bolante, for allegedly dipping their fingers into a P432-million fertilizer fund.
The alleged team of assassins – Randy Grecia, Gerry Cabayag and Estanislao Bismanos – were convicted last Oct. 7, 2006 by RTC Cebu Judge Eric Menchavez.
A fourth accused – Rowie Barua – was excused from the case after turning state witness.
It took the DOJ close to three years to file the case.
The resolution, prepared by State Prosecutor Geronimo Sy and approved by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, used facts uncovered during the trial of the assassins.
It cited how Barua pointed to Sabay and Montañer as the masterminds when he took the witness stand during the hearing before Judge Menchavez.
Barua, an army sergeant, was Montañer’s close-in security escort. It was he who supposedly selected the team to carry out the killing.
“After a careful evaluation of the records of the case, we find probable cause against the respondents Montañer and Sabay for the crime of murder for the killing of Marlene Esperat,” the resolution added.
Montañer and Sabay were originally impleaded together with the assassins when the original case filed before the RTC of Tacurong City.
However, the charges against them were dropped by RTC Judge Francis Palmones in an order the Office of the Tacurong City Prosecutor failed to object to.
The uproar over the exclusion resulted in the filing of a petition to move the trial to Cebu, a petition that the Supreme Court granted, hence the trial before Judge Menchavez and, now, Judge Dumdum. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 4, 2008 issue)
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