Murdered journalist's son identifies suspect

One of the surviving children of murdered Tacurong City journalist Marlene Esperat identified one of the three accused now held for trial as the one who shot his mother last year.

Kevin Esperat, 14, positively identified Jerry Tabayag as the one who barged into their dining room while they were having a dinner about 7:30 p.m. on March 24, 2005 and shot his mother several times using a handgun.

Kevin, who pinpointed Tabayag in yesterday's hearing of the case, said he could vividly recall the face of the accused because he was just a foot away from where the suspect shot his mother.

According to Kevin, the accused even went to buy ice water at their sari-sari store earlier that day. He said because they did not sell ice water, Tabayag instead asked for a glass of water.

Kevin said he gave a glass to Tabayag who asked to get water from the kitchen. Kevin said he was even scolded by his sister for allowing Tabayag to get inside the house where the accused allegedly stayed for a while.

When asked if he could recognize the firearm used by the accused, Kevin said it was short and similar to the cal. 45 pistol of one of the marshals of the Department of Justice's witness protection program that was shown to him.

Police Inspector Jose Condeza, provincial officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Cotabato City, who was presented as the first prosecution witness, earlier said they had recovered from Tabayag the cal. 45 pistol allegedly used in Esperat's killing.

Condeza said that Tabayag figured in an accident that resulted to his arrest. Tabayag is among the four accused in the case. The other accused are Randy Grecia, Rowie Barua and Istanislao Bismanos.

The defense through public attorney Elmer Pacayra opted not to conduct the cross-examination on Condeza because he still has to study some documents.

Pacayra, however, is expected to cross-examine Kevin today. - Fred P. Languido