Accessory in radioman’s slay gets 14-year jail term

CEBU CITY—A Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Cebu City has convicted the driver of the getaway motorcycle used in the killing of a radio broadcaster in Aklan province 13 years ago.

Amador Raz was found guilty of homicide and was meted out a jail term of eight to 14 years for the killing of Rolando Ureta of radio station dyKR on Jan. 3, 2001.

The alleged gunman, Jessie Ticar, surrendered in 2007 but died of a disease the following year.

Raz was escorted by six marshals of the Department of Justice during the promulgation on Tuesday that was held in one of the outdoor tents that serve as temporary courthouses after the Oct. 15 quake last year caused serious damage to the Palace of Justice, which had been declared unfit for occupancy.

Raz remained silent when the decision of Judge Sylvia Aguirre-Paderanga of Cebu RTC Branch 16 was read in court. He, however, wept after the proceedings.

Raz said he would appeal the ruling, insisting he was innocent. “I could not do what they had accused me of doing,” he said.

Paderanga ordered Raz to pay Ureta’s heirs P50,000 in civil indemnity, P50,000 in moral damages and P11.8 million in actual damages.

The court also said the six years Raz spent in detention would be credited to the jail term meted out on him.

Raz will be transferred to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.

Ureta, program director of dyKR and host of the nightly program “Agong Nightwatch,” was heading for his parents’ house on board a motorcycle when two men on another motorcycle drove alongside him and shot him.