Cop pleads guilty, accomplice still free: Court convicts killer of editor

A former policeman has been convicted for the death of a Mindanao-based mediaman, which is only the third time since 1986, that the accused in the murder of a journalist was convicted.

After six months of hearing the case, Regional Trial Court branch 19 presiding judge Ramon Codilla Jr. found Guillermo Wapille guilty for the murder of Edgar Damalerio, a newspaper editor and broadcaster who was killed in Pagadian City on May 13, 2002.

The hearing of the case was transferred to Cebu City following a Supreme Court order granting the petition of Gemma, Damalerio's wife, who asked the High Court for the transfer of venue of the case from Pagadian City to any RTC branch in Cebu City.

While, the case was still in Pagadian City, Wapille nearly escaped from the charges after Executive Judge Franklyn Villegas of Pagadian City, on December 20, 2002, ordered for the suspension of the proceeding of the case for 60 days and recalled the warrant of arrest against the accused.

But, the order for the suspension of proceedings was lifted and a new warrant of arrest was issued following a resolution dated January 16, 2003 penned by Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzales dismissing the appeal/petition of Wapille.

However, immediately after that Wapille, still a policeman at that time, could no longer be found at the camp where he was stationed.

Then, an order dismissing Wapille from the police service and a Hold Departure Order came out.

On August 8, 2003, the case was "archived" since the accused remained at large.

Barely a year after, on September 12, 2004, Wapille voluntarily surrendered to the police force in Los Banos, Laguna.

On May this year, the hearing of the case kicked off, but only after the second Information of the case was finally docketed. The first one was quashed after it was found out that it was not signed by the proper signatories.

The new prosecution panel named were Cebu City prosecutor Nicolas Sellon, assistant city prosecutors Fernando Gubalane, and Dixon Fuentes.

Codilla, in his 12-page decision, found Wapille "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" for the crime of murder. And for that Codilla sentenced him an imprisonment of reclusion perpetua, which is between 20 years and one day to 40 years. The judge also fined him P50,000 as civil indemnity, P50,000 as moral damages, and P25,000 as exemplary damages.

His co-accused, who remains unidentified, "shall be separately prosecuted upon his apprehension or identification."

"The court believes and so holds, that the testimony of only one material witness Edgar Ongue, is more credible as against the testimony of the defense witness," Codilla said.

Ongue, who was with Damalerio inside the latter's jeep, testified that he saw Wapille riding at the back of a motorcycle and then shot Damalerio. Ongue said he had been a constant companion of the broadcaster after the latter received death threats.

The prosecution was supposed to present another eyewitness, Edgar Amoro, but the latter was murdered even before hearing of the case started.

And even if Ongue was the only one who was presented as witness to the crime, Codilla believed that the his testimony was "direct" and "straightforward" and the judge found "no plausible reason" why Ongue would implicate Wapille to the crime.

Ongue's testimony was "partly corroborated" by Gemma's, said Codilla. Gemma was also presented as a witness by the prosecution.

Gemma testified that on that afternoon of the day her husband was murdered she saw two motorcycle-riding men pass by their house while she was sweeping their yard. And she identified the backrider as Wapille, whom she said, was the one she saw near the radio station, where her husband worked, four days before the incident.

The defense did not present the accused to testify as according to one of his counsels, Honorato Hermosisima Jr., Wapille refused to be presented as a defense witness.

Hermosisima said they respected their client's refusal since it is his right.

But before the defense rested its case, it presented the supposed eyewitness of the crime Bernardo Regis, who claimed he was about 25 meters from the crime scene when Damalerio was shot.

Regis pointed that the gunman was Ronnie Kilme, but later on said he was not sure about it.

Damalerio was an editor of the Zamboanga Scribe based in Pagadian City and a broadcaster of radio station dxKP.

Wapille was teary-eyed while ushered out of the court by security personnel, while his wife was sobbing.

Meanwhile, Gemma, in a press conference after the promulgation said the penalty handed down to Wapille was "sufficient," a sentiment shared by her counsels.

However, Thelma Chiong of the Crusade Against Violence, believes that Wapille should have been meted the death penalty for killing and innocent man.

Sec. Gonzales, in a phone interview, assured the people that the Department of Justice will "pursue cases against criminals especially those involved in media slaying."

"The decision is not only a win by the private complainant (Gemma) but by media practitioners too," said Sellon during the presscon.

Reports of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Bulatlat, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the defunct Philippine Movement for Press Freedom showed that there were 68 cases of media killings from 1986 to May 2005. Of this number, 32 or close to half took place during the Arroyo administration.

A CMFR article published in the September-October issue of the Philippine Journalism Review said that since 1986, 54 journalists had been slain in the line of duty while 17 were killed for reasons not involving their work, for a total of 71.

The CMFR study showed that only two of the 54 cases have actually led to convictions, making this case against Wapille, the third conviction since 1986. The other two cases were of dzMM deskman Alberto Berbon, who was killed in December 1996, and Nesino Paulin Toling, the publisher-editor of Ozamiz City's Panguil Bay Monitor, who was murdered in April 1991.