Prosecution bares photos to help establish shooting

The prosecution yesterday revealed pictures that may help establish the motive in the shooting of radioman Cersi "Choy" Torralba last year.

During yesterday's cross-examination of defense witness Yvonne Ygbuhay, she admitted that the pictures, which were presented by prosecution lawyer Adelino Sitoy, were taken when she worked as member of vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda's Cebu campaign staff, which Torralba had headed.

Sitoy, who was interviewed by reporters after the hearing, said that the pictures are very important because "pictures have stories to tell." The court accepted 10 pictures as evidence - at least two of them showed Ygbuhay and Torralba together while the others show them both with the other campaign staffs.

"We were trying to get from the witness some surrounding circumstances of the break-up and the way she posed in the pictures. If I were the boyfriend, I would be mad," the prosecution lawyer added.

Sitoy was trying to establish the link of suspected gunman John Lloyd Ortiz to the attempt on Torralba's life on June 8, 2004. He said jealousy might have triggered the suspect to commit the crime.

However, during the cross-examination, Ygbuhay said she and Torralba were only friends. She described the radioman as a good man, saying that their friendship developed during the campaign period.

According to her, Torralba knew that she had a boyfriend, but the radioman was not able to meet Ortiz, who did not know that she worked for Torralba.

Ygbuhay reiterated that even during her telephone conversations with the victim at the hospital, he never directly implicated her boyfriend in the incident. She added that she never suspected her boyfriend as the gunman because Torralba did not even mention to her that he knew his attacker.

She said she had asked Torralba a few times if he really saw the man who shot him, but all the victim had said to her was: "Kabawo jud baya ka," as she quoted him as saying.

Ygbuhay said that she was with Torralba during the campaign period from April 15 to May 7. But Ortiz, she said, had no idea that she was working because she was afraid her parents would know since all they knew was that, she was studying here. The witness, like Ortiz, was a native of Catbalogan, Samar.

The witness said she and Ortiz broke up after the campaign. And until Ortiz was arrested, she still had no idea that he was the suspect in the shooting.

Torralba, she said, did not tell her Ortiz was the suspect. "He just told me if there was a witness that could positively identify him then he would be detained," she said.

However, she said Torralba did not tell her there was a witness who positively identified Ortiz.

Today the defense is set to present Ortiz. - Liv G. Campo and Wenna A. Berondo