Court dismisses Favila's motion

The court has rejected the motion filed by murder suspect Michel Favila seeking to reconsider its order accepting one of his co-accused as state witness in the killing of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana Yongco in 2004.

Regional Trial Court Branch 20 Judge Bienvenido Saniel Jr. denied Favila's motion because his counsel, Orlando Salatandre, has failed to present new and substantial arguments in his motion for reconsideration.

On March 28, Saniel granted the prosecution's motion seeking to use Eddie Ardita, one of the accused, as state witness against Favila and two other suspects, Army M/Sgt. Heracleo Rallestan and Nestor Carrol.

Saniel ruled that it is necessary for Ardita's testimony to prove the conspiracy between Favila and the two other accused in the killing of Yongco inside her office along Sikatuna Street on October 11, 2004.

Lawyer Orlando Salatandre, who represented Favila, argued that the court has erred when it accepted Ardita to become state witness because the evidence showed that Ardita has the most guilt of the four suspects.

But Saniel rejected Salatandre's arguments, saying: "After going over to the motion and the opposition, the court finds that no new substantial matter has been raised."

"The arguments presented in the motion were already adduced before and considered by the court when it granted the motion to discharge. The court, thus finds no compelling reason to reconsider, alter or modify the March 28 order," Saniel ruled.

Salatandre earlier argued that Ardita's testimonies were no longer needed because there are already three witnesses - Desederio Ruben, Jocelyn Gomez and Gina Teofilo - who could prove the conspiracy among the four accused.

Yongco was the lead private prosecutor of the parricide case against cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr.

Favila, a member of Ecleo's Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, reportedly hired Ardita, a "habal-habal" driver, to bring him to Sikatuna Street from Talamban in the morning of the day Yongco was killed.

Upon their arrival, Ardita admitted that he had asked the girl who was attending a store if Yongco was around, pretending to be the lawyer's cousin who was seeking assistance to have her marriage annulled.

After Favila allegedly gunned down Yongco, Ardita then drove him back to Talamban where Favila gave him P5,000 as initial payment for his job.

The trial of the case was set to resume on August 28 when the court seeks to hear Ardita's testimonies. - Rene U. Borromeo