Suspect in Torralba shooting not hiding

The lawyers of John Lloyd Ortiz, the accused in the foiled attempt to kill radioman Cirse "Choy" Torralba last year, yesterday presented two witnesses to disprove the police report that he was hiding after the incident.

Defense lawyers Heide Acuña and Rolando Quimbo presented Irenea Tapilot and Florita Sugabo before Regional Trial Court judge Eric Menchavez during the hearing of the case.

Tapilot works as a househelp of Ortiz's grandparents on Cabajar Street, barangay Guadalupe while Sugabo used to be a helper in his uncle's house in barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City where the police picked him up two days after the incident.

Quimbo wanted to disprove the claim by the police that Ortiz went into hiding after Torralba's shooting because before they went to the house of his uncle, the accused already knew that some persons were looking for him.

Sugabo testified that it was Ortiz who approached the six civilian-clothed policemen who went to his uncle's house to arrest him on the afternoon of June 10, two days after Torralba was shot along Don Jose Avila Street.

Tapilot, who testified ahead of Sugabo, said Ortiz stayed at his uncle's house in Lapu-Lapu City even before June 8, and that she told the four men looking for the suspect at his grandparents' house that Ortiz was at his uncle's house.

According to Sugabo, when she received a telephone call on June 10 asking for Ortiz's whereabouts, she told the caller that Ortiz was at the house. When she informed Ortiz about a man asking for his whereabouts and wanting to come over, Sugabo said Ortiz just told her he would entertain him.

When the six policemen arrived at the house of Ortiz's uncle, Sugabo said Ortiz even opened the door and welcomed the lawmen.

The trial of the case will continue this afternoon when the defense panel will present two more witnesses.