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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
The Sandiganbayan First Division on Tuesday
ruled as “final and executory” the conviction for homicide of
ex-Capt. Reynaldo Jaylo, former chief of a government group running
after illegitimate job recruiters.
The decision also covered Patrolman Edgardo
Castro and Privates First Class William Valenzona and Antonio Habalo
Jr.
In an 11-page resolution penned by Associate
Justice Alexander Gesmundo, the anti-graft court junked a motion for
reconsideration of the accused. Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta
and Rodolfo Ponferrada concurred with the ruling.
Jaylo and the three policemen had been
implicated in the “rubout” of Army Col. Rolando de Guzman, Army
Maj. Franco Calanog and Avelino Manguera during a drug bust at
Magallanes Commercial Center in Makati City in July 1990.
They were each sentenced to 14 years and eight
months’ imprisonment.
The four men were ordered to pay each of the
three victims P50,000 in damages and to shoulder the costs of
litigation.
The court reiterated its order implementing the
warrants of arrest against the convicted accused and also ruled that
Jaylo waived his right to appeal when he jumped bail. The four men
will be detained at the national penitentiary upon arrest.
The Sandiganbayan stressed that during the
promulgation of judgment on April 17, 2007, the lawyer for the
accused manifested that his clients could not be located.
Jaylo went into hiding after he was charged with
kidnapping. He had been appointed by President Gloria Arroyo as
anti-illegal recruitment czar. Authorities later linked him to
extortion activities.
The supposed drug bust nearly 18 years ago
involved the National Bureau of Investigation, Western Police
District and undercover agents of the United States Drug Enforcement
Agency. The local and foreign lawmen were supposed to buy 10
kilograms of heroin, also supposedly from the three victims.
Jaylo, a former Manila policeman, claimed that
de Guzman and his companions resisted arrest and fired first,
forcing his group to return fire to defend themselves.
The accused were originally charged with murder
but the Sandiganbayan reduced their conviction to homicide because
allegations of “treachery, premeditation and use of superior
strength were not clearly supported and established.”
The accused alleged that a legitimate shootout
had taken place but the Sandiganbayan questioned their failure to
submit the guns allegedly used by the victims for proper
identification with the slugs recovered from the crime scene.
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