Blocktimer Alberto "Pastor" Martinez has passed away, days before he was to be presented on the witness stand in a case against his attackers. In 2005, he survived an attack that left him paralysed from the waist down.
This statement was originally published on cmfr-phil.org on 21 January 2015.
Ten years after surviving an attack that left him paralyzed from the waist down, a Mindanao broadcaster died last 15 January 2015 in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato.
Blocktimer Alberto “Pastor” Martinez died shortly after he was rushed to the hospital when he complained of having difficulty in breathing, according to his wife Geraldine. Martinez is survived by his wife and two kids.
Martinez was set to be presented on the witness stand on 27 January 2015 for rebuttal evidence, according to Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc. (FFFJ) legal counsel Prima Jesusa Quinsayas. Quinsayas represents Martinez as private prosecutor in the frustrated murder case against two men accused of shooting Martinez before Branch 22 of the Regional Trial Court of Kabacan, North Cotabato.
Three men on board a motorcycle attacked Martinez on his way home from his evening program at the now defunct 101.7 Hot FM in Kabacan, North Cotabato last 10 April 2005. Martinez was able to name Army Corporal Alvaro Obregon Jr. and Ronilo Quiñones as two of his three attackers while he was being treated at the hospital.
In 2006, murder charges were filed against Obregon, Quiñones, and a certain Romeo Araneta before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of North Cotabato. The complaint against Araneta was later dismissed by the provincial prosecutor.
Frustrated murder charges were filed in court against Obregon and Quiñones in 2007. Both accused concluded their presentation of evidence before the trial court in 2014.
