MURDER charges were filed on Monday against former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and several others in connection with the killing of Palawan-based broadcaster Gerardo “Gerry” Ortega on January 24 in Puerto Princesa City.
Patricia Gloria “Patty” Ortega, wife of Gerry, went to the Department of Justice (DOJ) together with her lawyer Harry Roque to file the criminal complaint.
In her five-page complaint affidavit, the widow also charged former Marinduque governor Jose Carreon, former Palawan provincial administrator Romeo Seratubias and Coron Mayor Mario Reyes.
Complaints were also filed against Marlon Ricamata, Dennis Aranas, Valentin Lesias, Arturo Regalado, Armando Noel, Rodolfo “Bumar” Edrad Jr., and other John Does and Jane Does.
Edrad, a possible witness for the prosecution, was included in the charge sheet because of his supposed participation in the killing.
He surrendered to the authorities last weekend and confessed for being the one who hired the gunman upon orders allegedly coming from Reyes.
Roque said charges against Edrad might still be dropped once he is turned into a state witness.
Ricamata was also arrested earlier and had reportedly confessed before a court in the province on Friday that he was the one who shot Ortega.
Aranas, who served as lookout, as well as Regalado and Lesias, also fell into the hands of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The widow recounted that a few days after the murder, she learned that the gun used to kill her husband was registered to lawyer Seratubias, who was provincial administrator during Reyes’s term.
Seratubias was the first to be charged in connection with Ortega’s killing.
On the same day, the complainant said she was informed that Regalado had surrendered to authorities and admitted being the one who purchased the gun from Seratubias used to kill Gerry.
Subsequently, the complainant said she was informed that Edrad, who claimed to be the link between the mastermind of the murder and the gunmen, had also already surrendered to the NBI.
The complainant claimed that Edrad is one of the former close-in security guards of Reyes and had also been a security aide of Carreon.
“It came as no surprise to me that Edrad pointed to the involvement of former governor Joel T. Reyes as the mastermind of the murder of my husband and of Coron Mayor Mario T. Reyes Jr. as having given money to Edrad after the murder was committed,” the complainant said.
“All of those arrested were pointing to him [Reyes]. Their testimonies corroborate one another. At first, I didn’t know who it really was until his men surfaced and confessed [to the killing],” Mrs. Ortega told reporters.
Misuse of funds
IT’S not just the opposition to mining in Palawan’s last frontier that did in Ortega. His relentless snooping into the misuse of funds representing the provincial government’s share from the Malampaya gas proceeds may be part of it.
This is gleaned from a statement on Monday by Ortega’s widow, Patty, challenging former governor Reyes to make good on his supposed willingness to undergo a lifestyle check.
Reyes strongly denied any role in the killing last week, and hinted he had been set up by political rivals.
In her Monday statement, Ortega’s widow said: “Mr. Mario Joel T. Reyes has stated in a press interview [PDI, 14 February 2011] that he is willing to undergo a probe, a lifestyle check, to dispute what most people in Palawan already know concerning the wealth he had amassed while in power as governor of Palawan.
“His statements reek of arrogance and desperation to cleanse his hand of the murder of my husband on January 24, in the hands of hired assassins and his security people and employees of the provincial Capitol.”
She scoffed at Reyes’s claim that he did not profit from government illegally while he was in power.
“My husband was murdered because of his unrelenting efforts to expose corruption in his administration and beyond, in particular the plunder of the provincial government’s share from the Malampaya gas proceeds.”
The Ortega widow said the government “should take as a challenge the bravado of this man Joel Reyes,” whose lifestyle, she added, belies his claims.
She has appealed to the Senate to conduct an investigation of the Malampaya money that went to Palawan since Reyes became governor in 2003.
“This is the proverbial Pandora’s box that not only will unmask the corruption of Joel T. Reyes but also expose the wrongdoings of his close relatives and trusted individuals who have participated in the unabashed rape and plunder of the national patrimony,” Ortega said.
