The story of a crime

Dennis Relato was my cousin and the Ladlad coordinator for Albay. I am using the past tense “was” because he was murdered in cold blood, with more than 20 stab wounds in various parts of his body, in his house last September 14.

Dennis, or “Dindin,” helped Ladlad in its province-wide campaign in Albay in the 2010 and 2013 elections. He was cheerful and given to easy laughter, and was liked by everyone we met. Thus, it came as a shock to all of us when the text messages blazed on our phone that he was dead, and gone in such a horrible fashion. You could hear the screams all the way from London, where my aunt and uncle, his parents, now live; and down in Albay, where some old relatives are still residing.

But what rubbed salt on the wounds was a possibly libelous report from another newspaper whose stupid reporter got the side of the alleged killer only, and ignored that of our family’s. They even had graphic sexual details in the news report. It is in clear violation of the law on libel, which restrains people from “blackening the reputation of those who are already dead,” because of the obvious reason that they could no longer protect their names. I forthwith fired a letter to the editor of the news with the “balanced news, fearless views” and took them to task for this lapse.

For ladies and gentlemen, basic journalism ethics mandate that you get the other side of the issue, on the first take of the news, especially in police and crime cases. I do not know what has happened to our journalism schools and to our desk editors in our newspapers, who so blithely ignore this basic tenet.

The newspaper did call the attention of the reporter and the editor; I wish they were reprimanded as well, for to call attention sounded so lame to me. Here, then, is the completed and unvarnished report, with both sides finally given their space, the way it should be.

OAS, Albay — Hundreds of relatives and friends brought Dennis “Dindin” Relato, the provincial coordinator of Ang Ladlad, an LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders) political party, to his final resting place, over a week after he was killed by his alleged lover.

Relato, 48, who was also a musician and entertainer, was buried in the Oas Catholic Cemetery after the 10 a.m. Mass at the St. Michael the Archangel Parish.

His only brother, Benjamin, 50, said he could not take what happened to him. “What I’m feeling and (what) the whole family (is feeling) about the suspect is anger. It’s very painful,” said Benjamin, who last saw him 11 years ago.

Police arrested the male suspect, reportedly a 17-year-old from Legazpi City, on the night Relato’s body was found with more than 20 stab wounds inside his house in Barangay Ilaor Sur here on Sept. 14. As of Wednesday, he was still in police custody and had yet to produce a birth certificate to prove his age before being turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Under the Juvenile Justice System and Welfare Act of 2006, minors between 15 and 18 years old can be criminally charged, but President Aquino amended the law in October 2013 (Republic Act No. 10630), exempting them from criminal liability and subjecting them instead to an intervention program unless they acted with discernment.

“What he (suspect) did to Dindin was very inhumane. There was really an intention to kill. The hack wounds which he (Dindin) incurred from the kitchen knife were very deep, so with that, he must be jailed,” Benjamin said.

The suspect told police that he was forced by Relato to do sexual acts against his will. Benjamin said that assuming this was true, it was still not enough reason for him to kill his brother in a “very brutal” manner. London-based Relato’s brother and parents, who live in London, went home to Oas for his wake and burial. They wanted the suspect convicted the soonest possible time so that justice would be served.

Benjamin said his brother was also about to leave the country for good in the coming years as all family members were already residing in London. “(It) feels very sad that it would no longer be realized because he is gone,” he said.

Before the tragedy, Relato was able to talk with their mother in London over the phone for several hours, he said. “Dindin also called relatives in the United States, which rarely happens. Maybe it’s a premonition,” he said.

A mini-concert was staged by Relato’s friends and colleagues before he was finally laid to rest. 

* * *

Fair enough, but the news report failed to include something I wrote in my letter: the presence of drug paraphernalia that I am certain belonged to the alleged assailant. Moreover, RA 10603 does exempt a minor between 15-18 years old from criminal liability if he acted with discernment, but it does not exempt him from civil liability, which shall be enforced in accordance with existing laws.

Please allow me also at this point to make a pitch for the crime novel, Smaller and Smaller Circles, by F.H. Batacan. Its novella version was published by UP Press, but the writer has since expanded the novel, now published by Soho Press of New York and garnering rave reviews around the world. Copies are available in your nearest bookstore.

The book won for Batacan the Palanca Grand Prize for the novel, as well as the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award. Fr. Guz Saenz and his protégé, Fr. Jerome Lucero, another Jesuit priest, were tasked to help track down the killer of children in Payatas, whose faces, hearts and genitals were removed. Beyond the gore of the situation, what shines clearest in Batacan’s novel is the rank corruption in the land, and it indicts everyone – State and Church included – in a country that has truly, madly and deeply gone to the dogs.