Journalist murder case documents move to CA

Regional Trial Court Judge Ramon Codilla Jr. ordered his staff to transfer to the Court of Appeals the six-inch thick documents on the case of convicted policeman Guillermo Wapille after he appealed his conviction for the murder of Pagadian City journalist Edgar Damalerio.

Wapille, who was sentenced from 20 to 40 years imprisonment in November, claimed he was innocent to the May 13, 2002 killing of Damalerio, who was driving his jeep with two friends.

Lawyer Honorato Hermosisima said Wapille instructed him to file the appeal before the appellate court after Codilla rejected their motion for reconsideration of the decision.

Wapille was shipped back to Pagadian City after staying at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center for six months to face another criminal case before the court in that city.

The court gave more credence to the testimony of Edgar Ongue, who was together with Damalerio and Edgar Amoro, claiming that Wapille chased them on board a motorcycle and shot the journalist with a handgun.

Ongue said he was sure it was Wapille who shot his friend because he and the dismissed policeman were former neighbors in barangay Pao, San Pablo town in Zamboanga del Sur.

Codilla decided that Ongue's testimony could not be corroborated because Amoro, another witness to the killing, was also killed months later.

Codilla said the testimony of Ongue would have been corroborated by other witnesses like Amoro "but for the fact that Amoro was forever silenced by an assassin's bullet, his lips are forever sealed by death."

It was Amoro's death that prompted the Supreme Court to allow the transfer of the trial of the case to Cebu City.

While the prosecution failed to establish the motive of the killing, the court noted that being a journalist, Damalerio might have earned the ire of some people for exposing anomalies, to the point that they hired a gunman.

The quick resolution of Damalerio's case prompted the families of another slain journalist, Marlene Esperat, who was gunned down in Tacurong City, South Cotabato last year, to seek for the transfer of the trial of her case to Cebu City.

Esperat's case is now pending before RTC Branch 21.