Charges readied vs ex-judge in Vizcaya lawyer's slay

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Murder charges are being readied against a former judge tagged as a suspect in the killing of a human rights lawyer here two years ago.

Senior Inspector Alberto Bagarra, chief of the Solano town police, said the suspect’s identity will be unmasked today after the filing of formal charges against him in court.

Police said that Rommel Laciste, a recaptured escapee of the National Bilibid Prison (NBP), pointed to the former judge as the brains behind the slaying of lawyer Ernesto Salunat on June 22, 2010.

Bagarra said Laciste’s look-out and driver, Aries Valentin, corroborated his claim that he was hired by the former judge to kill Salunat for P100,000.

“He (Valentin) is our star witness in the case. In fact, he already corroborated (Laciste’s) disclosure that he was the gunman in the killing of Attorney Salunat,” Bagarra added.

Laciste, 30, had earlier admitted that he was hired for the Salunat killing while he was detained at the Isabela provincial jail for the 2006 murder of Concepcion Lumanglas, then assistant provincial probation officer.

He was recaptured in Isabela last Aug. 26 or 11 days after he escaped from the NBP.

Laciste further claimed that he was allowed to escape by provincial jail guard Judy Celestino to kill the then 64-year-old Salunat. 

Isabela jail warden Lito Marquez said that Celestino is already being investigated.

The victim, a top-notch lawyer, was shot four times in front of the Solano municipal trial court just as he was about to ride his BMW car.

Salunat, former Northern Luzon governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and law professor at the University of the East, was the Liberal Party campaign manager during the last elections here. 

Laciste was serving a life sentence for the Lumanglas killing when his escape at the NBP was discovered on Aug. 15 hours after convicted road rage killer Rolito Go resurfaced from an overnight disappearance.

After his recapture on Aug. 26 in Isabela’s Naguilian town, Laciste claimed he and Go, along with three other Filipino-Chinese inmates, were set loose by NBP guards for P2 million.

However he retracted his claims the following day.

Laciste claimed that he was freed at least three times to undertake similar hit jobs while being detained at the Isabela provincial jail.