Court acquits suspect in airport exec’s slay

A Parañaque court acquitted yesterday the primary suspect in the 2003 slaying of airport official Lilia Diaz after finding the evidence provided by the prosecution "insufficient."

Judge Raul de Leon of Parañaque RTC Branch 258 ordered accused Zaldy Dagting, who was arrested after being tagged by Diaz’s driver as the gunman, immediately released from detention.

In a 13-page decision, De Leon said a careful and judicious evaluation found the testimonies of the witnesses "puny and bereft of merit."

"The court must acquit the accused for the evidence does not fulfill the test of moral certainty and is insufficient to support a judgment of conviction," he said.

Diaz, assistant general manager for administration and finance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, was on her way to work on board a Mitsubishi L-300 on the morning of Sept. 9, 2003 when she was ambushed by two men riding a motorcycle near the gate of Bricktown Subdivision in Parañaque City.

She was with her driver Edwin Defeo.

Diaz was hit on the right shoulder with the bullet exiting through the left side of her body.

She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Olivarez General Hospital.

Prior to the ambush, the airport executive had been receiving a number of death threats in connection with her position as general manager. The accused, a casual searing machine operator, was tagged as a hit man working for her enemies.

Dagting, an alleged member of the Batang City Jail gang, had previously been tagged as one of the suspects in the ambush of Customs collector Felipe Bartolome in July 2003.

The court was convinced, however, that the accused had reported for work at the Mabuhay Electric Powers Corp. in Taguig at the time Diaz was ambushed.

He had been working for the company since February 2003.

"It was humanly and physically impossible for him to be at the place of the incident at Bricktown, Parañaque on the same day as he was at work several kilometers away," the judge said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Anel Diaz, counsel for the victim’s family, said they were saddened by the court’s decision.

"Despite the decision, we will study the case further and come up with possible legal remedies. We will still do something to rectify this decision that did not favor us, but it would still be within the legal framework," he said.