Prosecution rests in Jason Ivler case

JASON IVLER. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–More than three years after a Malacañang official’s son was killed in a road rage shooting, state prosecutors have rested its case against the murder suspect, Jason Ivler.

Led by senior deputy state prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon, the prosecution panel formally offered 58 pieces of evidence against Ivler, who was charged with killing Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. on November 19, 2009.

The body of evidence included the testimony of a call center agent and a policeman who witnessed the shooting on Santolan Road, Quezon City, as well as autopsy and ballistics reports, among others.

The prosecution made its formal offer of evidence in a motion filed on December 27 last year.

Judge Luisito Cortez of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 set the next hearing on February 21, when the defense is expected to start presenting its own evidence.

Ivler, a Filipino-American, is a son of art patron Marlene Aguilar-Pollard and a nephew of folk singer Freddie Aguilar. A TV actor in his teens, he is turning 31 on January 7.

At the time of the shooting, the victim’s father, Renato Ebarle Sr., was a Palace undersecretary serving under then Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

Cortez is the third judge to handle the trial since Ivler’s arrest in January 2010, after Alexander Balut of Branch 76 and Bayani Vargas of Branch 219 inhibited themselves from the case.