Ex-mayor convicted of killing Aklan radioman

CEBU CITY—Alfredo Arsenio bowed his head, his eyes closed as the court decision was read on Tuesday.

Arsenio, former mayor of Lezo town, Aklan province, suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Judge Sylva Aguirre-Paderanga in disbelief after hearing he had just been convicted of killing radioman Herson Hinolan and meted out a jail term of 14 years.

Arsenio had originally been charged with murder but Judge Paderanga, of the regional trial court Branch 16, downgraded the case to homicide, saying evidence is insufficient to prove the two key elements of murder—treachery and premeditation.

Arsenio, 64, was also ordered to pay P237,500 in indemnity to Hinolan’s heirs.

The court verdict was bittersweet for Hinolan’s widow, Aphrodite. She said she would have wanted a heavier penalty, “but 14 years in jail for him is fine.”

“At least justice was served for my husband, unlike other journalists who got killed but are still chasing justice until now,” she said. “This is better than to wait for nothing,” she added.

Aphrodite was with her son, Kim, who was just 10 years old when she was gunned down.

Hinolan was pissing on a wall near a carnival in Kalibo, the capital town of Aklan, on Nov. 13, 2004 when he was shot.

He was able to run but a man, later identified as Arsenio, chased him and shot him repeatedly. Hinolan suffered 10 gunshot wounds.

Before his killing, Hinolan had criticized Arsenio for the ex-mayor’s alleged involvement in illegal cockfights.

In 2008, the Supreme Court granted the petition of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) for a transfer of the trial’s venue from Kalibo to Cebu City for fear that Arsenio could influence the outcome of the case.

FFFJ, a coalition of six media organizations, said because of the clout and influence of the accused in the area, witnesses had been reluctant to testify for fear of retaliation.

In 2014, Judge Paderanga also convicted Amador Raz, one of the two men who killed Rolando Ureta, program director and commentator of radio station dyIN on Jan. 3, 2001, of homicide.

The other suspect, Jessie Ticar, surrendered in 2007 but died the following year after he fell ill.

Arsenio, who has been detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) for eight years, is expected to be transferred to the Leyte Regional Prison in Abuyog town, Leyte where he will serve the remaining six years of his jail term.

The court said the period of detention which the accused already served shall be credited in the service of the penalty meted out on the former mayor.

Arsenio may file a motion for reconsideration or an appeal to a higher court to overturn the decision of Paderanga.