AS former mayor of Lezo town, Alfredo Arsenio was considered a powerful political figure in Aklan province.
The murder case filed against Arsenio was transferred to Cebu City upon the request of the local prosecution in Aklan, said Asst. Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila, who heads the witness protection program of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Arsenio’s lunch at a local restaurant in Cebu City yesterday wasn’t the first time he enjoyed liberties during his detention.
Last year, there were reports that Arsenio left his cell in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) to attend a fiesta in his hometown. His former lawyer Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu denied the report.
Arsenio was accused of shooting dead Bombo Radyo station manager Gerson Hinoloan in Kalibo, Aklan on Nov. 13, 2004.
A witness, Niño Suñer, testified on May 26, 2008, that Arsenio repeatedly shot the radio station manager but later retracted his statement.
Yesterday, Arsenio testified in court and denied the witness’s earlier testimonies which identified him as the killer.
The prosecution downplayed the recantation of their former witness.
Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera II said Supreme Court rulings looked unfavorably at retractions because of the possibility that witnesses could be coerced or bribed in the course of the trial.
Before he was killed, Hinolan reported on illegal gambling activities, police brutality and corruption by local executives.
Hinolan criticized Arsenio because of his alleged involvement in illegal cockfights.
In his May 2008 testimony, Suñer said he was inside a tricycle when he saw Arsenio shoot Hinolan several times near a carnival in Kalibo City.
The broadcaster was hit in the stomach and arms, then died two days later.
Arsenio’s alibit was that he was at home at the time of Hinolan’s murder. He said he suspects that Suñer only volunteered to witness for the case after he heard that reward money was at stake.
Arsenio said he couldn’t afford to kill Hinolan since he had a name to protect.
He said he even once gave Hinolan P5,000 for a blood-letting campaign he initiated.
Hinolan’s widow, Aphrodite, said she didn’t believe Arsenio at all.
“When he said he gave P5,000 to my husband, I was really mad because my husband doesn’t receive money, he only gives it away. If you had only seen my husband’s wake, there were so many people who came to help. If what he says about my husband is true, then I should have been rich by now,” she told Cebu Daily News. Correspondent Patricia Ann Pateña and Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol