THE family of the victims of suspected summary executions allegedly perpetrated by former police officers of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) some four years ago expressed dismay over the court's dismissal of the charges against the policemen.
Rolando Jamaca said he could hardly believe the court's ruling saying they were confident that their case was strong to convict Senior Inspector Ludwig Charles Espera and Inspector Arnel Gighe. The primary suspects in the murder of Maria Erika Yabut and the frustrated murder of Jim Jamaca.
"Nagtuo mi nga sakto ang kaso nga among gi-file ug maangkon namo ang hustisya sa akong pag-umangkon ug sa iyang kaipon (We believe we filed a strong case. We thought we would get justice for my nephew and his partner)," the elder Jamaca said.
Jim Jamaca survived a murder attempt, while girlfriend Maria Erika Yabut died in a December 11, 2014 incident that implicated the two policemen.
Jim Jamaca’s cousins, siblings Harold and Roland Jamaca, were also killed on the same day in a separate incident.
The brothers, sons of retired policeman Rolando, were found in Barangay Mambuaya.
In his statements to investigators, Jim Jamaca said all four of them were together before the incident.
Presiding Judge Vincent Rosales of Regional Trial Court Branch 23 dismissed the murder and frustrated murder charges against Espera and Gighe last May 24.
The court dismissed the case for "failure of the prosecution to prosecute."
Jamaca said the fiscal who handled the case failed to attend the scheduled court hearings.
But Jamaca said the prosecution has already asked the court to reconsider its ruling but the family has yet to receive the copy of the motion for reconsideration.
"Sa akong nahibaw-an nag file na ang urgent motion for reconsideration pero wala pami kopya (We know we filed an urgent motion for reconsideration but we don’t have a copy yet)," he said.
Jamaca said his nephew, Jim, is still with the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Witness Protection Program (WPP).
He said the DOJ cannot yet terminate Jim's privilege to be under WPP since the cases of his sons and nephew are related.
"Naa pa gihapon siya sa WPP. Wala pami masayod unsay mahitabo pero sa akong tan-aw dili pa tingali i-terminate sa DOJ ang WPP kay wala paman mahuman ang kaso sa branch 24 sa laing mga akusado (Jim is still with the WPP. We do not know what will happen but we think he will stay with the program since the case in Branch 24 involving other suspects is ongoing)," Jamaca said.
But Jamaca said he is worried that with the case against Gighe and Espera now dismissed, the two may get back at them.
"Pero unsay atong mahimo nga yano raman ta (What can we do? We are just ordinary people,)" he said.