(CMFR/IFEX) – Barely two months after the trial of the suspected killer of journalist Edgar Damalerio restarted, a no-show by the accused underscored the last day of hearings on 25 August 2005 in Cebu City, the southern Philippines’s largest city. The suspect, ex-policeman Guillermo Wapile, had refused to testify. His lawyer, Honorato Hermosisima Jr., said […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – Barely two months after the trial of the suspected killer of journalist Edgar Damalerio restarted, a no-show by the accused underscored the last day of hearings on 25 August 2005 in Cebu City, the southern Philippines’s largest city.
The suspect, ex-policeman Guillermo Wapile, had refused to testify. His lawyer, Honorato Hermosisima Jr., said there was no need for Wapile to do so.
Damalerio was killed on 13 May 2002. The Supreme Court ordered the transfer of Wapile’s trial to Cebu after witnesses, including Damalerio’s wife, Gemma, and his friend Edgar Ongue, reported receiving death threats.
The trial began in early June 2005, with five hearings conducted until 24 June. In one of the hearings, Wapile was identified by Ongue as the person who shot Damalerio at close range.
In July, the defence presented Bernardo Regis, who claimed that he saw another person named Ronnie Kilme shoot Damalerio. Regis said he was four metres away from the crime scene.
Presiding Judge Ramon Codilla gave the defence five days to submit its formal offering and prosecutors five days thereafter to comment.
The trial is nearing its end as both parties submitted their memoranda on 23 September and are now waiting for the court’s final resolution.
– With reports from the Freeman News Service