DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur, Philippines – The trial of the murder case filed against former Davao del Sur Governor Douglas Cagas and three others, including a town mayor, is facing further delay after the new judge that should preside over it inhibited.
Judge Magnolia Velez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 20 said she inhibited from the case due to her relation by affinity to Davao del Sur Rep. Mercedes Cagas, wife of the former governor.
Daisy Mabuti, RTC 20 clerk of court, said on Wednesday that Velez had formally informed the Supreme Court of her inhibition.
GOV. Douglas Cagas. FILE PHOTO
She did not say when Velez officially begged off from presiding over the case.
Velez got the murder case against Cagas, Mayor Vicente Fernandez of Matanao, Bado Sanchez and Ali Ordaneza for the 2010 murder of journalist Nestor Bedolido, after the original judge, Carmelita Davin of Branch 19, inhibited due to personal reasons.
During the re-raffling of the case on Monday, the case was handed over to Velez, formerly assigned with the Office of Solicitor General in Manila and is a resident of Cagayan de Oro City.
With Velez’s inhibition, the Supreme Court will have to appoint another judge to handle the case, according to court sources here.
Self-confessed gunman Voltaire Mirafuentes and his brother, Henry implicated Cagas, Fernandez, and two other suspects in the Bedolido slay case. Voltaire is now under the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program while Henry, who claimed he served as a lookout, had been remanded to the Davao del Sur Provincial Rehabilitation Center here.
“I have not met them, nor talked to them in person. In fact, nobody among them was present during our preliminary hearing before the DOJ in Manila,” Cagas earlier told reporters.
He repeated his previous line that his incarceration was the result of political machinations.
Cagas earlier said the charge against him had already been dismissed but was revived due to pressures exerted by his political enemies.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima ordered the filing of the murder charge against Cagas and the three other accused in court in August.
Davao del Sur Governor Claude Bautista, who had faced Cagas several times for the gubernatorial race in the past, refused to comment on the claims of the Cagas’ camp and said he would instead concentrate on his priority programs.
“Involving in this political theatrics would just compromise our priorities. My priority is to help uplift the living condition of the people in the province,” he said.
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