CEBU CITY, Philippines -- A former Aklan town mayor on Monday pleaded not guilty to the 2004 killing of Aklan broadcaster Herson "Boy" Hinolan.
"Not guilty," said former Lezo Mayor Alfredo Arcenio, looking calm during his arraignment at the heavily guarded Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 16.
Seated a few meters away, Hinolan's widow Aphrodite and mother Sonia wept openly as a court employee read the murder charge against Arcenio. The victim's son and other family members also attended the hearing.
The former mayor has repeatedly denied involvement in the killing of Hinolan, former station manager of dyIN Bombo Radyo in Kalibo and host of the station's morning program "Bombohanay Bigtime."
A lone gunman repeatedly shot Hinolan on November 13, 2004 near a carnival in the capital town of Kalibo. He died two days later from multiple gunshot wounds.
Arcenio had claimed he was in Lezo town, seven kilometers from Kalibo, at the time of the incident.
A former intelligence officer of the Army's 47th Infantry Battalion, Arcenio surrendered to the Aklan RTC on March 5 this year, after hiding for a year and half.
"I am also a victim in this case because I am innocent of the charge filed against me," Arcenio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer after the hearing.
Arcenio's lawyer Ramiro Madarang had filed a revised motion for bail claiming the prosecution had no strong evidence against his client after witness Peter Melgar recanted his earlier statement that he saw the former mayor shooting Hinolan.
But the prosecution threw a surprise Monday when they presented a new eyewitness who identified Arcenio as Hinolan's gunman.
Niño Suner, 19, said he was a few meters away inside a parked tricycle just outside the carnival when he saw Hinolan urinating beside a warehouse. He later saw a man, whom he identified as Arcenio, approach Hinolan and shoot him in the back with a handgun.
The gunman chased the wounded Hinolan who had tried to escape but the gunman fell and later fled on a motorcycle driven by another suspect.
Suner said he recognized Arcenio as the gunman because the area where Hinolan was shot was well lighted and because the former mayor was familiar in cockpits, which he also frequents.
When asked during the direct examination by Assistant Cebu City Prosecutor Gandhi Truya who was the gunman, Suner named "Alfredo Arcenio."
Suner later left the witness stand and went to the back of the court room where Arcenio was seated and pointed at former mayor who was wearing an orange detainee's shirt.
Arcenio smiled and repeatedly shook his head as Suner pointed at him.
"I don't know him and I haven't seen him before. He appears to be a trained witness," Arcenio said in an interview.
Arcenio's lawyer also questioned why the witness surfaced only now.
But Truya said the testimony of the witness showed that "the evidence of guilt is strong."
He downplayed the impact of the change of statement of the previous eyewitness.
"We believe that bail should not be granted because he was positively identified as the gunman," said Truya in an interview.
In a separate hearing at the same RTC branch also held on Monday, Emely Ureta was cross-examined in connection with the murder case of her husband, Aklan broadcaster Rolando Ureta.
Two motorcycle-riding gunmen shot dead Ureta on January 3, 2001, along the national highway in the village of Bagtu, Lezo town, Aklan, some seven kilometers west of Kalibo, while the broadcaster was on his way to his parents' house.
The victim was program director of station dyKR of Radio Mindanao Network and hosted the nightly program "Agong Nightwatch." He was investigating the proliferation of illegal gambling and drugs in the province when he was killed.
The Supreme Court earlier ordered the transfer of the trial of the two murder cases from Aklan to Cebu for security reasons and upon the request of the victims' families and media organizations.
The media groups, including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, attended the Monday hearings.
