Ortiz's girlfriend: Choy told me he did not see gunman

The girlfriend of accused in the shooting of radio broadcaster Cirse "Choy" Torralba testified in court that Torralba confided to her the day after the incident that he did not see the man who shoot him on June 8 last year.

Yvonne Ygbuhay, the girlfriend of John Lloyd Ortiz, yesterday said that shortly after learning Choy was shot, she contacted him many times through his cellphone but failed to get a reply. On June 9, she finally got Choy on the phone and asked him if he was able to identify the person who tried to kill him.

Choy answered no, said Ygbuhay refuting Choy's earlier claim that he saw the man who shot him and identified him, through pictures, as Ortiz.

After Ortiz was arrested in his uncle's house in barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City, on June 10, Ygbuhay said she contacted Choy again and inquired why her boyfriend was implicated.

Choy said they already have a witness who saw the gunman and if Ortiz would be identified as the one who shot him, he would be detained, Ygbuhay testified further.

Ygbuhay denied Choy's allegations that Ortiz wanted to kill him because Ortiz became jealous of his closeness with Ygbuhay, who worked as a campaign staff for a presidential candidate in the last elections.

Choy, however, explained in a separate interview that after the shooting he intentionally withheld some information from people he could not trust, to avoid jeopardizing the case. - Rene U. Borromeo