Palawan broadcaster Gerardo Ortega, 47, was shot and killed by a lone assailant on Jan. 24, 2011, while shopping in a used-clothes store in Puerto Princesa City. He sustained bullet wounds in the head and body.
The alleged assailant, Marlon Recamata, was caught moments later with the help of passing firefighters and bystanders. His alleged accomplices—Dennis Aranas and Armando Noel Loria—fled.
Recamata later confessed to the killing and said his group was hired for the hit job in exchange for P150,000 by Rodolfo Edrad Jr., a former close-in security guard of former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes. Edrad also used to be an aide of former Marinduque Governor Jose Antonio Carreon.
Police found that the .45 cal. pistol used in the shooting was registered to lawyer Romeo Seratubias, who served as provincial administrator when Reyes was the governor.
Carreon and Reyes denied involvement in the killing. Seratubias confirmed that he had owned the gun but that he sold it to a certain Percival Lesias, a day before the killing was planned in Pagbilao, Quezon province.
On Jan. 26, 2011, police filed murder charges against Seratubias, Recamata, Aranas, Edrad and Loria. Two days later, Aranas was arrested by intelligence agents in Coron, Palawan.
On Feb. 5, Edrad surrendered in Quezon, saying he feared for his life. He later admitted to investigators that Reyes and Carreon were the ones who ordered the killing.
On Feb. 10, Loria surrendered to police from his hiding place in Sorsogon. The next day, Recamata pleaded guilty to the murder charge against him.
On Feb. 14, Ortega’s widow, Patria Gloria, filed a murder complaint against Reyes and 10 others in the Department of Justice (DOJ), saying only Reyes had the motive to order her husband killed.
She said her husband had criticized Reyes in his daily radio program for the latter’s purported inability to stop the abuses and violations of environmental laws committed by mining companies in Palawan.
Patria said Reyes had also blamed her husband for the latter’s failed run for Congress.
On Feb. 28, the DOJ started the preliminary hearing on Ortega’s case. On June 8, the DOJ panel led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edwin Dayog said the evidence and testimonies of witnesses presented by the prosecution were “insufficient to establish probable cause” against Reyes, Carreon, Seratubias, Mayor Mario Reyes of Coron, and Reyes’ former aides Lesias and Arturo Regalado.
The DOJ, however, approved the filing of a criminal case against Edrad, Loria, Aranas and Arwin Arandia.
Citing strong evidence, the Ortega family filed a motion for reconsideration of the panel’s decision. On Sept. 7, the DOJ formed a new panel, composed of Assistant State Prosecutors Stewart Allan Mariano, Vimar Barcellano and Gerard Gaerlan to investigate the case and look into new pieces of evidence.
On Oct. 3, Reyes petitioned the appellate court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the DOJ from conducting another preliminary investigation. With the absence of a TRO, the DOJ started its reinvestigation on Oct. 6. Lawrence de Guzman, Inquirer Research
Source: Inquirer Archives