Suspect in Cavite reporter’s slay faces drug, gun charges

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – The suspect in the murder of Remate reporter Rubylita Garcia will be charged with illegal possession of firearms and illegal drugs.

Cavite police director Senior Superintendent Joselito Esquivel said construction worker Airon Cruz, 23, would be charged today before the Cavite City prosecutor’s office with illegal possession of firearms and illegal drugs but not the murder of Garcia, who was gunned down last Sunday in Bacoor City.

Esquivel yesterday said two witnesses, including Garcia’s daughter, failed to identify Cruz in the police lineup.

Cruz was arrested in a drug entrapment operation in Cavite City last Tuesday afternoon and the police seized eight plastic bags of shabu and an unlicensed caliber .22 revolver from the suspect.

Esquivel said Cruz has pending drug cases and is a suspected hit man of a notorious drug gang in Cavite City.

He said Cruz’s face is a “90 percent match” with the sketch of the gunman made by a police artist from descriptions provided by witnesses.

However, Esquivel said three witnesses, including the daughter of Garcia, failed to positively identify Cruz in a police lineup.

Esquivel said Garcia’s daughter told police that her mother’s killer had a tattoo of a heart on the left side of his neck, while Cruz has a tattoo of a cross on the right side.

He also said two witnesses insisted that Cruz was not the gunman.

Esquivel said Cruz is still undergoing interrogation.

He said Task Force Ruby had released yesterday a computerized facial composite of one of the suspects in the killing.

Esquivel also said they are reviewing a copy of the closed-circuit television footage they obtained from residents in Bacoor City, where the gunmen were spotted escaping after the crime.

Chief Superintendent Jesus Gatchalian, Calabarzon police director, said investigators would not stop until the suspects are arrested.

Vice President Jejomar Binay proposed the appointment of a peace and order czar amidst the series of killings that included members of the media, particularly the recent killing of Garcia.

Binay said peace and order is becoming a problem.

He said the manner in which a female journalist was killed sends a chilling effect.

“Such killings have no place in a democratic country like ours,” he added.

The vice president also said that government should ensure protection for media practitioners.

“We have fought so hard to regain our people’s freedom of speech and expression. We have fought for a free press and we cannot allow certain quarters to silence the peoples’ voices,” he said.

Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Grace Poe condemned the killing of Garcia and called for the immediate resolution of the case.

Pimentel, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said that attacks against journalists have no place in a free and democratic country.

He called on the police to immediately find the perpetrators of the crime, which took place inside the Garcia home in Bacoor, Cavite.

Pimentel said that the authorities should exert extra effort to solve attacks, not only against journalists, but also lawyers, environmentalists and activists.

Poe described the incident as “senseless and heinous,” especially since it was done in front of the family of Garcia.

“I appeal to the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation to pin down the assailants immediately, since there were witnesses and the murderers were brazen enough not to conceal their identities,” Poe said.

“Swift justice must be served. We press for the timely resolution of cases of violence against journalists to serve as a stern warning to all in pursuit of justice, freedom of speech, and democracy,” she added. – With Marvin Sy, Eva Visperas, Cecille Suerte Felipe