Ex-mayor, 3 aides convicted of shooting Alvarez’s brod

A former Isabela mayor and his three bodyguards were sentenced to 12 years in jail yesterday for the shooting of a younger brother of former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez in 1991.

Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Jose Paneda found former mayor Jose Miranda, Manasis Serenio, Dante Bolos and Pempe Casabar guilty of frustrated murder for the attack on Edward Alvarez inside the Jardin Restaurant in Santiago, Isabela on July 8, 1991.

In a 16-page decision, Paneda also ordered the four to pay Edward P300,000 as civil liability.

Court records show that Edward, along with two others, went to the restaurant to watch a live band performance.

Before Edward could take his seat, Miranda arrived with his bodyguards and invited him to a corner. There, Miranda pulled his hair and pointed a gun at the back of his head while Miranda’s bodyguards held his hands.

Edward then heard a gunshot and felt pain in his back. He looked back at Miranda and asked the latter why he shot him. He then felt dizzy and the next thing he knew was that he was being rushed to the hospital.

Miranda told the court that they invited Edward to a well-lighted corner of the restaurant to ask him to surrender his gun.

However, he claimed that Edward resisted and struggled, causing the caliber .45 pistol to go off and hit him in the back.

Paneda, however, said he found the prosecution’s version "more acceptable and credible" than the defense line which he described to be "implausible and untrue."