Choi insists it was Ortiz who shot him

Radio commentator Cersi "Choi" Torralba insisted before the court yesterday that it was John Lloyd Ortiz who wanted to kill him on June 8, 2004.

Torralba said that he could not forget the "Robin Padilla-like face" of Ortiz, whom he said was alone during the shooting. His description of the suspect drew laughter from almost everyone in the courtroom, including defense counsel Rolando Quimbo.

He also admitted that he considered only one person as a suspect and that was the boyfriend of Mary Anne Sanico, a member of his staff who worked for the candidacy of Loren Legarda for vice president.

Torralba said that before the incident, Sanico had confided to him that her boyfriend was jealous about their closeness.

But Torralba said that when he saw the "Andrew E-like" face of Sanico's boyfriend, he instantly removed him from the list of possible suspects, drawing another laughter from the audience.

Quimbo said that Torralba's shooting could be the handiwork of a politician from Mindanao who reportedly hired people to kill the radioman. But Torralba replied that if it was a politician from Mindanao who wanted him dead, there should at least be three gunmen who carried out the shooting to ensure his murder. "I know that after this incident it was not them. Had it been a hired killer I'd have been killed," he said.

The 12 bullets fired were certainly not from a hired killer, said Torralba, who sustained a gunshot wound in his left shoulder and left arm.

Since the lawyers were "exhausted" after the almost two-hour cross-examination, Judge Eric Menchavez decided to continue the hearing this afternoon.