Church, media back Justice for Ortega launch
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—Media groups, backed up by a large TV network and Catholic Church leaders, launched on Tuesday a campaign to press the Department of Justice (DOJ) to send to trial the case against the alleged masterminds of the murder of Palawan journalist and environmental advocate Gerry Ortega.
Mika Ortega, daughter of the former Radio Mindanao Network commentator and environmentalist, said the formal launch of the Justice for Doc Gerry Ortega Movement, “hopes to call attention to the grave injustice over dad’s (Ortega) case.”
She was referring to a recent decision by a special panel of DOJ prosecutors to exclude the accused mastermind, former Palawan Gov. Joel T. Reyes, and his associates, in the trial of the case.
The DOJ is set to issue another ruling on a motion for reconsideration filed by the Ortega family.
Mika said the launching of the movement here, held in commemoration of the Jan. 24 shooting of Ortega by a confessed hired gunman, will be complemented by a round table discussion about the case in Manila today involving mainly publishers, editors and key media personalities.
The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) will conduct the round table.
Reyes was implicated by his former security aide, Rodolfo Edrad Jr., as the one who ordered the killing of Ortega, a staunch critic of the former governor.
The DOJ panel, however, which was tasked with determining probable cause against Reyes and the other accused, trashed Edrad’s confession and ruled that only Edrad and his hired group of killers should face trial.
In its June 24 decision, the DOJ exonerated, apart from Reyes, former Marinduque Gov. Antonio Carreon, Edrad’s former employer who was alleged to have initially informed Edrad about the planned hit on Ortega; lawyer Romeo Seratubias, Reyes’ former provincial administrator and owner of the gun that was used in the crime; and several of Reyes’ associates who earlier admitted participation in the operation to assassinate Ortega.
“The DOJ ruling was such a bizarre decision there’s been a lot of speculation what it took them to embrace the flimsy defense of the accused,” said activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes.
Father Reyes said both the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), the main formations of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the country, have lent their support to the campaign by taking a stand on the Ortega case.
“All we are asking is for the DOJ to let the courts conduct the trial,” said Damian Lacasa Jr., president of the local press organization Alyansa ng Palawenyong Mamamahayag (Apamai).
Joel Reyes and Carreon have repeatedly denied involvement in the murder.
