Witness says Dizon's killer wore a helmet

A reporter of a local radio station yesterday testified before the court that the assailant of The FREEMAN photojournalist Allan Dizon was wearing a helmet based on his interview with an old woman vending near the crime scene. The vendor allegedly told him she saw the assailant moments after the gunshots were heard.

Jeffrey Tumulak of dySS said he arrived at the crime scene minutes after Dizon was rushed to the hospital and interviewed the old woman who sold in the North Reclamation Area near where the spot Dizon was shot dead.

Tumulak said the woman, who agreed to be interviewed live on air on condition of anonymity, told him that after the second or third gunshot she looked at the direction from where it came and saw a man in white T-shirt, later identified as Dizon, lying infront of a cellshop near a carwash. Dizon then sat up and pleaded to be brought to the hospital, she reportedly said.

All the while, his assailant -a helmeted man holding a gun- walked to a waiting motorcycle.

Tumulak said he interviewed other people, who also refused to be named, who said the assailant was wearing a helmet.

Regional Trial Court Branch 5 presiding judge Ireneo Gako Jr. asked him if dySS still had the copy of that interview broadcast live on-air. Tumulak said the record of that interview had long been erased, he explained that they keep records of interviews but erase them after 15 days. The shooting happened last November 27.

During the cross-examination, prosecution lawyer Dante Ramos said what the witness testified was all what he heard from those people, this was admitted by defense lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva who said the witness' testimony was based on his interviews.

Meanwhile, Salva requested the court to produce the text messages allegedly recovered from Dizon's cellphone to shed light on the murder case of which Edgar Belandres was the suspect.

Salva said that those messages were suppressed thus he demanded they be presented in court in the interest of justice.

One of these text messages which came at 4:36 p.m. in Dizon's phone from a certain "DD" read: "Adto lang kilid carwash." Another message also coming from "DD" which was received on 4:44 p.m. read: "Dia pa mi Liloan."

Despite Ramos' statement that there was no need to present those messages Gako insisted the phone be produced so the messages could be read before the court for it to be "enlightened".

It is not still clear who holds Dizon's phone or Subscriber's Identification Module that carried those text messages, Gako is giving the defense 10 days to file its proper motion regarding its request. - Liv G. Campo