Wife of slain Pagadian City radioman tags ex-cop as killer

CEBU CITY — The wife of slain Pagadian City journalist Edgar Damalerio pinpointed a former policeman twice as the killer of her husband in Wednesday’s trial of the case here.

Ma. Gemma Damalerio testified that while she was on her way out of dxKP after delivering a newspaper to her husband who was anchoring a program at about 6 p.m. on May 9, 2002, she saw a suspicious-looking man on board a motorcycle parked 10 meters away from the radio station.

"Gikulbaan ko sir kay nana guy death threats akong bana (I was scared sir because my husband had been getting death threats)," Mrs. Damalerio, the third prosecution witness who took the stand, told prosecution counsel Nicolas Sellon during the direct examination.

Earlier that day, Mrs. Damalerio said her husband brought Edgar Ongue to their house and narrated that he was receiving death threats.

Ongue took the witness stand last week and accused former policeman Guillermo Wapille of having killed Damalerio.

When Sellon asked if she could identify the man on the parked motorcycle, Mrs. Damalerio, with hands trembling, pointed to Wapille.

The second time she saw the suspect was hours before her husband was murdered. According to Mrs. Damalerio, she was sweeping the ground outside the gate of their house when she saw two suspicious-looking men riding a motorcycle.

She said the one on the backseat was the man she saw on May 9. At this juncture, Mrs. Damalerio, for the second time, pointed to Wapille as that man.

Scared, Mrs. Damalerio said she sent a text message to her husband, asking him to be careful. At that time, Damalerio was attending a press conference.

Before 8 p.m., Mrs. Damalerio said her husband called her up informing her that he would be home soon. But he did not arrive.

Mrs. Damalerio then received a text message from Edgar Amoro, a friend of her husband, telling her that Damalerio had been shot.

Damalerio was gunned down while he was driving his yellow jiffy with Amoro and Ongue.

At the hospital, Mrs. Damalerio recalled how shocked she was to see the lifeless body of her husband.

At this instance, she broke down, prompting Judge Ramon Codilla to suspend the court proceedings to allow her to calm down. She was comforted by Thelma Chiong of the Crusade Against Violence.

When the hearing resumed, Mrs. Damalerio said it was Amoro who told her that her husband’s killer was a policeman.

Amoro was supposed to be presented as a witness in the case, but he died last Feb. 2.

It was only during Damalerio’s burial when Amoro told Mrs. Damalerio that it was Wapille who killed her husband.

Mrs. Damalerio subsequently filed an administrative case against Wapille in Camp Crame. Then Philippine National Police chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. ordered Wapille’s dismissal for grave misconduct and forfeited all his benefits. — Freeman News Service