DOJ orders murder raps filed against Davao ex-gov

GOV. DOUGLAS CAGAS

MANILA, Philippines—The justice secretary has ordered the filing of murder charges against former Davao del Sur Gov. Douglas Cagas, Matanao town Mayor Vicente Fernandez and two others for the 2010 slay of Digos City reporter Nestor Bedolido Sr., reversing its dismissal for what she viewed as an improper application of a legal principle on witness testimonies.

In a resolution on Aug. 26, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima reversed earlier resolutions of the Prosecutor General and investigating prosecutor that dismissed charges against Cagas and Fernandez and further recommended that two other alleged accomplices, Bado Sanchez and Ali Ordaneza, be charged.

She also ordered that charges be dropped against three suspects earlier indicted for the slay—gunman and primary witness Voltaire Mirafuentes, his brother Henry Mirafuentes Jr. who corroborated his testimony and Artemio Timosan—against whom De Lima found “no sufficient evidence to establish probable cause.”

Gunman’s confession

In confessing to the crime, Mirafuentes said he had shot Bedolido dead on June 19, 2010, on orders of Cagas and Fernandez, with the collusion of Ordaneza and Sanchez “in planning and carrying out” the slay, the resolution read.

Bedolido, a reporter for weekly tabloid Kastigador, died of six gunshot wounds outside his karaoke bar in Digos City. His death was linked to “exposés” published during elections of the same year.

De Lima, in her resolution, said the statements of the Mirafuentes brothers “are positive, categorical and sufficient to form a reasonable belief that murder has been committed and that [the four ordered charged] are probably guilty” of the crime.

She granted witness protection for the Mirafuentes brothers, “for which reason they should be granted immunity from prosecution in this case.”

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