Journalist-killer gets jailed for life
Finally, a decisive victory for press freedom.
The quest for justice in the killing of print, radio, and television
journalist Edgar Damalerio, came to a favorable conclusion as the local court convicted the scribe’s gunman, Guillermo Wapile, to life sentence in Cebu City on 29 November 2005 afternoon.
Damalerio’s widow, Gemma, broke into tears upon hearing the judgment handed down by Judge Ramon Codilla of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 19, The emotion was shared by Edgar Ongue, the slain journalist’s friend and key witness in the case, who sat expressionless, but nonetheless heaved a sigh of relief with the outcome of the case.
The decision is the only third recorded conviction out of a total of 55 cases of journalist killings since democracy regained its ground in the country in 1986.
This conviction however, could be considered the most timely even as the number of media-related killings have been on the rise in the last three years. This has prompted international media organizations to label the Philippines as the “most dangerous place for journalists.” In the latest world press freedom rating released by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Philippines ranked a low place of 139th out of 167 countries.
But the battle is not completely won, Wapile’s lawyers said they would appeal for a motion for reconsideration. Nonetheless, the Damalerio family and several journalists view it as a triumph of justice.
Although life sentence actually merits just 40 years of imprisonment (reclusion perpetua), it is next only to the death penalty in gravity.
“Even if it’s just reclusion perpetua, we’ll take it,” said Freedom for Filipino Fund Journalists (FFFJ) representative and Philippine Press Insititute (PPI) executive director, Jose Pavia, who witnessed the court hearing yesterday. The case, he noted, was relative success in comparison to other cases of slain journalists.
In an interview with the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on the same date, Gemma expressed mixed emotions with the outcome of the case, saying she is “happy with the judge’s resolution, but it is only the start of yet, a long process as the defense is expected to appeal their case.”
“I would like to thank all, especially the media organizations that never wavered in monitoring and helping the case of my husband,” Gemma said to CMFR.
Case background
Damalerio (left photo), a radio commentator for dxKP-Pagadian, managing editor of the Zamboanga Scribe, and host of the cable TV program Enkwentro (Encounter), was gunned down on 13 May 2002 while driving an owner-type jeep along a street in Pagadian City. His two companions, Edgar Amoro and Ongue, were able to get a good look at the killer, whom they later
identified as Wapile.
Damalerio’s case is widely-considered as the easiest one to prosecute among the others, since the witnesses, Amoro and Ongue, were determined to testify even as the suspect had been clearly identified.
Any ideas of a prompt and decisive resolution quickly went into thin air however, as alleged concerted efforts by authorities were made to cover up the culprits.
From the start, it was apparent that the police wanted to ensure this case would go nowhere. In June 2002, the police, led by then Pagadian police chief, Supt. Asuri Hawani and the PNP Region 9 Director produced a “witness” to point to another suspect as Damalerio’s killer. That witness later turned out to be a friend of Wapile.
On 02 August 2002, Juvy Lobitaña (Juri Ladica in some reports), a local militiaman who was believed to have an information about the mastermind of the murder, was killed while on board a tricycle in Pagadian City. Lobitaña had been approached as a possible witness in the case.
It was only in 30 January 2002 that a case was finally filed and an arrest warrant issued. Two days before this, Wapile managed to escape “unnoticed” from the nearby Camp Abelon, according to the police compound’s head, Provincial Director Pedrito Reyes. One month later, Reyes was relieved from his post as provincial director.
The escape outraged the journalistic community, which initiated dialogues with police officials in Manila. The Damalerio family also filed cases against Reyes and Hawani, for their alleged complicity in the escape.
In 2003 the FFFJ launched “Operation: Countdown Damalerio”, calling media organizations to help raise public awareness on the case. Many media organizations answered FFFJ’s call. National news organizations based in Metro Manila like the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer began posting the photo of Wapile in its daily edition, saying that he killed a journalist and is on the loose. TV stations like the RPN 9 made a similar countdown.
Throughout this period, Wapile was reportedly sighted in Pagadian and nearby places, and there was no apparent attempt by the police and other law-enforcement bodies to arrest him.
Only when many more journalists were killed in subsequent years, with the numbers peaking at 12 journalists killed in 2003 alone, did the government and the police gave significant attention to the case. On 27 November 2003, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that the government is offering a P1M reward for the capture of individuals who have killed journalists in the last five years. President Arroyo specifically mentioned the murder of Edgar Damalerio.
President Arroyo also ordered the police to create a special task force (Task Force Newsmen) to look into the murders. Wapile, surrendered not long after, accompanied by two Zamboanga del Sur mayors, on 13 September 2004.
On 2 February 2005, the prosecution suffered a huge blow when witness Amoro was killed in front of the school where he was teaching. Although Amoro had been put on the Witness Protection Program (WPP), the Department of Justice (DOJ) did not get him out of Pagadian, despite the threats on his life. Ongue has also not been given additional protection and has gone
into hiding after Amoro’s killing.
By late February, the Supreme Court, in response to a petition sent by FFFJ on behalf of Gemma, approved the case’s transfer from the dangerous Pagadian to a Cebu City court, paving the way for the trial’s progress and security for the witnesses. In fact, it took an FFFJ initiative to secure the Ongue, Damalerio, and Amoro families. With the help of the WPP, FFFJ board member Red Batario led the mission to transfer them to a more secured location. After several delays, the trial finally started last 03 June with the presentation of evidences and the t
estimony of Ongue, which positively identified Wapile as the killer. The hearings ended 25 August with a no-show of Wapile.
For more information about the FFFJ, click this link.
For CMFR’s in-depth study on the journalist killings in the country entitled “In search of solutions: A Study of Journalist Killings in the Philippines, 2000-2005”, click this link.
If you want a PDF copy of the the report as published in the September-October 2005 issue of the PJR Reports (formerly the Philippine Journalism Review), click this link.
[…] of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s protracted watch. In 2002, broadcaster and print journalist Edgar Damalerio was killed in Pagadian City. The killing brought to the attention of the world press freedom watch […]