Case solved: 5 charged for newsman’s slay

The Northern Police District (NPD) declared yesterday the ambush-slay case of photojournalist Roberto Orsolino solved with the identification and filing of formal charges against the five suspects including the alleged gunman.

"The case of Orsolino is now considered solved," Superintendent Jimili Macaraeg, NPD-District Intelligence and Investigation Division (DIID) chief, told The STAR.

Macaraeg said that a murder case was filed yesterday with the Department of Justice against Rommel Lirazan, a resident of Cavite, the alleged triggerman, jail guards Ramon Rivera and Reynaldo Nicolas, the alleged liquidation planners, and Franklin Sabe and one Rolando Manaog, both of Malabon City, whom police tagged as the lookouts.

All suspects are at large and are subject of a massive police manhunt.

"But of course, the police will not stop there. The investigation of the case and the hunt of the suspects are still ongoing and we are also out to unmask the masterminds or people behind the suspects," Macaraeg said.

He said that the suspects’ continued hiding is an indication of guilt. "But we will always hear their side. That’s what the law mandates," he said.

According to Macaraeg, not only one, but several witnesses were able to identify the suspects and saw some of them talking to each other near the area where Orsolino, a Saksi photographer and reporter, was gunned down.

Another suspect fireman Roberto Flores of Cavite, was cleared by the police after it was established that the motorcycle used by the gunmen, which was then traced registered to his name, no longer belonged to him.

At around 10:20 a.m. last May 16, Orsolino was aboard his white Toyota sedan on C-4 Road at the boundary of Caloocan City and Malabon when he was waylaid and killed by two gunmen riding tandem on a motorcycle.

Police established that the motive for the killing was not work related, but a personal vendetta. — With James Mananghaya, Perseus Echeminada