Yongco slay suspect asks court to void decision on state witness

The alleged gunman in the killing of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana Yongco yesterday requested the court to reconsider its decision admitting one of his co-respondents - Eddie Ardita - to become a government witness because his statement is no longer necessary.

Lawyer Orlando Salatandre, who represents Michel Favila, claimed that Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge Bienvenido Saniel erred when he accepted Ardita to become a state witness. Salatandre said, based on the existing evidence, Ardita could be the "most guilty" among the four accused of the crime.

Saniel, who presides RTC branch 20, has accepted Ardita as state witness because it is only he who could prove that there was a conspiracy of all the accused in the shooting to death of Yongco.

Yongco, who used to be the lead private prosecutor of the parricide case filed against cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr., was gunned down inside her office at corner Alcohol and Sikatuna Streets on October 11, 2004.

Salatandre argued that Ardita's testimony is no longer needed because there are already three witnesses - Desederio Ruben, Jocelyn Gomez and Gina Teofilo - who could prove the conspiracy among the four accused.

Saniel earlier ruled that there is an absolute necessity for Ardita's testimony to prove conspiracy between Favila and two other accused, M/Sgt. Heracleo Rallestan and Nestor Carrol.

The Revised Rules of Criminal Procedures allows that an accused could be discharged from the information of the case for them to be state witness if there is an absolute necessity for his or her testimony and there is no other direct evidence available for the proper prosecution of the offense, except the testimony of the accused and his or her testimony can be substantially corroborated in its material points.

Salatandre said, a careful perusal of the statement of Ardita - assuming it to be true - reveals that Ardita appears to be the most guilty compared to the three other accused of the case.

He said it was Ardita - a "habal-habal" (motorcycle for hire) driver, who allegedly picked up Favila in Talamban in the morning of October 11, 2004 and dropped him across the store of Yongco along Sikatuna Street a past 7 a.m.

Then Ardita also confessed that it was he who inquired from the girl who was tending the store if Yongco was around pretending that he has a cousin seeking to have her marriage annulled.

Salatandre said that it was Ardita who allegedly signaled Favila upon learning that Yongco was the woman, who entered the gate beside the store leading to the law office.

After Favila allegedly gunned down Yongco, it was still Ardita who reportedly drove the motorcycle with Favila riding tandem and dropped him back to Talamban where Ardita was given P5,000 as his initial payment for his job.

Salatandre said, "Synthesized from the foregoing circumstances, Ardita is obviously a principal by indispensable cooperation as he cooperated in the execution or commission of the offense by another act, without which, it would not have been committed.

"The statement of Ardita - assuming it to be true - amply reveals that without his cooperation, the crime could not have been committed in the way it was," Salatandre added.

According to him, if all allegations were true, then had Ardita not picked up Favila and brought him to Sikatuna Street through his motorcycle, Favila would not have reached Yongco's store and he had not driven Favila in fleeing to Talamban, Favila could not have fled from the place.

Based on the testimonies of the witnesses, Rallestan and Carrol allegedly only acted as lookouts. It prompted Salatandre to say that without them Favila could have still have allegedly carried his plan to kill Yongco.

He described the alleged participation of Carrol and Rallestan as lesser compared to that of Ardita and among them, Ardita is considered as the most guilty.

Favila is a member of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, an organization headed by Ruben Ecleo Jr. who is called "Supreme Master" by his followers.

The trial will continue on June 6, so Ardita could be presented by the prosecution to testify about his knowledge in the killing of Yongco. - Rene U. Borromeo