NBI clears former judge in rights lawyer’s killing

By Charlie Lagasca

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya– The National Bureau Investigation  has cleared a retired regional trial court judge in the 2010 killing of a human rights lawyer here.

Citing its findings, the NBI district office led by lawyer Bensheen Apolinar asked the Department of Justice for the dismissal of the murder case filed against former judge Jose Rosales of RTC Branch 27 here “for lack of sufficient basis.”

In September last year, police filed murder charges against Rosales based on the supposed confession of murder convict Rommel Laciste, who was recaptured in Isabela 11 days after he escaped from the National Bilibid Prison.

Before the Cagayan police turned him over to the NBP, Laciste, with the aid of a lawyer, executed an affidavit saying he was the one who shot dead human rights lawyer Ernesto Salunat.

A top-notch lawyer, Salunat, who lost thrice in his congressional bid here, was shot four times in front of the municipal trial court in Solano town just as he was about to ride his BMW car at around 9 a.m. on June 22, 2010.

Laciste, 30, alleged in his confession that he was hired to kill Salunat while he was still locked up in the Isabela provincial jail for the 2006 killing of assistant provincial probation officer Concepcion Lumanglas.

Laciste was serving a life sentence for the Lumanglas killing when his escape from the NBP was discovered on Aug. 15 last year.

Laciste, who hails from San Mariano, Isabela, alleged in his affidavit that a provincial jail guard let him loose to kill 64-year-old Salunat.

Police said Laciste’s lookout and driver, a certain Aries Valentin, corroborated the convict’s claim that he was hired to kill Salunat for P100,000 with Rosales as the supposed mastermind.

However, in its investigation letter to the local prosecutor’s office dated last April 25, the NBI said Laciste, who cannot read and write, did not explicitly mention Rosales in his confession, contrary to his earlier claim in the first affidavit he made in the debriefing room of the regional police in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

Citing Laciste’s latest affidavit dated March 26 this year, which was taken at the NBP, the NBI said the convict did not mention Rosales in his confession before the local police on Aug. 27, 2012.

“Laciste emphasized that he did not mention the name of Judge Rosales and that he did not know how the name was stated in his confession. Worthy to note is the fact that Laciste is unable to read and write,” the NBI said.

Laciste’s second  affidavit was executed in the presence of NBP chaplain Monsignor Roberto Olaguer and lawyer Aristotle Burgos.

The NBI also noted discrepancies in Laciste’s police-extracted affidavit that he saw Rosales as the presiding judge during his trial in another case on Dec. 5, 2006 and in January 2007 when the former judge had already retired from the service for barely a year.