Ex-judge cleared in slay of Cagayan rights lawyer

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines   â€“ The Department of Justice (DOJ) has finally cleared a retired regional trial court (RTC) judge here from any involvement in the 2010 killing of a human rights lawyer.

In a three-page resolution dated July 31, provincial prosecutor Emerson Turingan dismissed the murder case filed by the police against former judge Jose Rosales of RTC-Bayombong Branch 27 for “lack of probable cause.”

Turingan based his resolution on the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which earlier had recommended the dismissal of the case against Rosales for the killing of lawyer Ernesto Salunat, 64, for “lack of sufficient basis” and for being “unsubstantiated and unreliable.” 

Turingan ordered the three other accused – Rommel Laciste, the self-confessed triggerman; and his supposed driver and lookout, Aries Valentin; and one Jude Celestino – to file their respective counter-affidavits.

Rosales was tagged in the killing based solely on the supposed confession of Laciste before police interrogators in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan before he was turned over to the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in September last year.

Laciste was serving a life sentence for the 2006 killing of Concepcion Lumanglas, then assistant provincial probation officer, when he escaped from the NBP.

He alleged though that unidentified men kidnapped him from the NBP on Aug. 15 last year, or hours after convicted road rage killer Rolito Go resurfaced from an overnight disappearance.

Based on his police-extracted affidavit, Laciste, who had then just been recaptured in Isabela 11 days after he escaped from the NBP, admitted he was the one who gunned down Salunat. 

A top-notch lawyer, Salunat, who lost thrice in his congressional bid here, was shot four times in front of the municipal trial court in Solano town this province as he was about to ride his BMW car on the morning of June 22, 2010.

Laciste, 30, claimed that Rosales hired him for the Salunat slay for P100,000 while he was still detained at the Isabela provincial jail for the Lumanglas killing.

Laciste, who hails from San Mariano, Isabela, further claimed that he had been set loose by one of the provincial jail guards, Jude Celestino, to kill Salunat with Valentin serving as alleged lookout and driver of the motorcycle used in casing and killing Salunat. 

However, the NBI, in its investigation letter to the local prosecutor’s office last April 25, said Laciste never mentioned Rosales in his confession.

“Laciste emphasized that he did not mention the name of Judge Rosales and that he did not know how the name was stated in his confession. Worthy to note is the fact that Laciste is unable to read and write,” the NBI said.

The NBI also noted discrepancies in Laciste’s first affidavit that he saw Rosales as the presiding judge during his trial in another case on Dec. 5, 2006 and in January 2007, as the former judge had retired from the service a year earlier.