Aurora town mayor tagged in scribe’s slay to run anew

DINGALAN, Aurora – The mayor of this town, who is under detention as the prime suspect in the 2005 killing of local newspaper publisher Philip Agustin, is running for reelection.

"Yes, he will run again," Buena Ylarde, wife of Mayor Jaime Ylarde who is detained in the Manila city jail, told The STAR.

Mrs. Ylarde said there is no legal prohibition to her husband’s candidacy, adding that they are confident that the Manila regional trial court (RTC), which is hearing the murder case, would eventually grant her husband’s petition for bail before the May 14 elections.

"I have high hopes he would be able to post bail. He is innocent," Mrs. Ylarde said.

She said many of their supporters remain loyal to her husband and have expressed their support for his candidacy.

Mrs. Ylarde said her husband is seeking reelection even under adverse conditions, adding that he has become sickly due to harsh jail conditions and lack of enough exercise.

Ylarde will face acting Mayor Edgardo Galvez, comebacking former three-term mayor Zenaida Padiernos, and businessman Boy Yang, who lost to Ylarde in the 2004 elections.

Ylarde, 59, was tagged as the mastermind in the gunslaying of Agustin, publisher of Starline Times Recorder. Agustin was gunned down inside his daughter’s house in Barangay Paltichere shortly before midnight of May 10, 2005.

On the night he was shot, Agustin had just delivered 500 copies of his newspaper’s May 2-8, 2005 special edition detailing Ylarde’s alleged misuse of funds intended for relief, resettlement and rehabilitation of flood and landslide victims.

Reynaldo Morete, a self-confessed lookout, tagged Ylarde as the one who ordered him and two others, Manuel Alday and Nilo Morete, to carry out the murder. The two are still at large.

Ylarde has denied any involvement in the killing. He voluntarily turned himself in to the Baler RTC shortly before the issuance of a warrant for his arrest. He was later transferred to the Manila city jail.

Ylarde was not included in the original information filed by the prosecutors, prompting Agustin’s daughter, Rosebelle Agustin-Cruz, to file a motion for reconsideration.

The prosecution has so far presented 10 witnesses before Judge Jansen Rodriguez of Manila RTC Branch 6 who is hearing the case.