Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Court finds cop guilty of Bantay Dagat chief's murder
By Jujemay G. Awit
CEBU CITY -- The only way a policeman could have avoided imprisonment in the Elpidio dela Victoria case was for the defense to present someone who "looks, walks and moves" like him, a judge said.
SPO1 Marcial Ocampo was sentenced Monday to spend 20 to 40 years in jail for the murder of the Cebu City Bantay Dagat commissioner.
Ocampo was also ordered to pay the victim's family P900,000 -- P500,000 as moral damages, P300,000 as exemplary damages and P100,000 in civil indemnity.
Both dela Victoria's wife Evelyn and her lawyers said they will now focus on three other men they suspect were also behind the attack, including the mastermind.
Dela Victoria was 47 when a lone gunman shot him outside his home in Barangay San Roque, Talisay City last April 12. He died less than 24 hours later.
Judge Ireneo Gako cited the testimonies of four witnesses, including one eyewitness, that they saw Ocampo right after dela Victoria was shot last April 12 outside his house in Sitio Dawis, Barangay San Roque in Talisay City.
Joselito Gerali, dela Victoria's brother-in-law, testified that he was tending his store in the afternoon of April 12 when Ocampo dropped by. Gerali recalled asking Ocampo what he wanted from the store, but the latter did not answer.
Ocampo then ran towards dela Victoria's house nearby, and then Gerali said he heard five to six gunshots.
Joselito's brother Winston also testified that he was inside his house when he heard the gunshots. When Joselito informed him that dela Victoria had been shot, Winston pleaded with his brothers and neighbors to chase the gunman.
While Judge Gako said he could have discredited the testimonies of the Gerali brothers, considering their ties to the victim, he could not reject the testimonies of Evan Echavez and Roberto Goc-ong.
Echavez, a neighbor of the victim and the Geralis, testified he took part in chasing Ocampo after the shooting.
The policeman threatened him with a gun, Echavez testified.
Goc-ong, for his part, drove the taxi that Ocampo boarded immediately after the shooting.
Identification
"Even if the court would not consider the testimonies of Joselito and Winston less credible because they are brothers-in-law of the victim, the court could not help but give full faith and credence to the testimonies of Echavez and Goc-ong, whose positive identification is unequivocal, forthright that said person is Ocampo," Judge Gako said in his decision.
The judge said he originally drafted 120 pages, but compressed it to 21. He explained his decision in court, but only read the dispositive portion.
The prosecution, he agreed, must derive strength from their evidence and not rely on the weakness of the defense's proof.
And the prosecution did just that, said Gako.
"The only way to refute (positive identification of prosecution witnesses) is to present a person who looks, walks and moves like him (Ocampo)," Gako noted.
The judge also said that Ocampo's defense, anchored on alibi and denial, was weak.
Ocampo has testified he was getting a haircut at the time of the attack.
Weakest
But Judge Gako said: "The rules on evidence state that an alibi is the weakest of all defenses and it is unavailing if the accused is positively identified by the witnesses or there is no physical impossibility for the accused to be at the crime scene when the crime was committed."
After the promulgation, private prosecutor Fritz Quiñanola said they will now work on the prosecution of three unidentified men linked to the killing.
"We have yet to unmask the masterminds but we already have leads," he told reporters.
Quiñanola preferred not to divulge names or details, but said the clues suggest a connection to dela Victoria's job as Bantay Dagat Chief. Rameses Villagonzalo served as co-counsel.
Dela Victoria was also the Cebu City market administrator.
Defense lawyers Hector and Vicente Fernandez barely spoke right after the promulgation. They chose not to issue a statement to the media, but Hector said they will ask for a reconsideration within the week. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(September 19, 2006 issue)
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