De la Victoria slay case Prosecution witness'credentials questioned

The lawyer of murder suspect Marcial Ocampo yesterday questioned the qualification, as expert witness, of the medico-legal officer who conducted an autopsy on the body of slain Bantay Dagat project director Elpidio "Jojo" de la Victoria.

The prosecution presented Gil Macato of the NBI as their first witness, but defense lawyer Hector Fernandez wanted to convince the court that Macato is not an expert witness despite the latter's claim that he had already performed autopsy on about 3,000 corpses.

Macato testified before Regional Trial Court judge Ireneo Lee Gako, Jr. about the four bullet wounds sustained by De la Victoria when the gunman shot him from behind. The doctor concluded that the gunman positioned himself at the back of the victim due to the entrance of the gunshot wounds.

One of the bullets entered dela Victoria's back and penetrated his kidney and pancreas before it exited through his stomach. The two other bullets hit the victim's right buttock, while the other one hit De la Victoria's right elbow.

At first, Fernandez questioned the entry in the victim's death certificate where it was stated that de la Victoria expired at 8:50 a.m. of April 13 or the following morning after he was shot outside his house in barangay San Roque, Talisay City.

According to Fernandez the reports that he read in the newspapers quoting some of dela Victoria's friends showed that the victim died at 7:40 a.m. and not 8:50 a.m., as stated in the death certificate.

When Macato testified that the entrance of the gunshot wounds has contusion collars or the burns around the wounds caused by the heat of the slug, Fernandez also raised his arguments.

He said as what he reads in the medical books, contusion collars in the gunshot wounds could be obtained only if the person who fired the firearm is two feet or less away from his target.

But Macato argued that contusion collars could be obtained even if the gunman fires his gun several meters away from the target.

"Ang kainit sa slug dili mabugnaw sa pipila ra ka seconds nga pag-travel sa bala," he said.

Since Macato and Fernandez could not present their respective proof of their arguments, Gako ordered that the issue be discussed again on Friday.

Ocampo was still wearing his police uniform when he attended the trial of his case that only lasted an hour yesterday.

Close to 10 jail guards, including the warden of Talisay City jail, escorted him to make sure that he is secured.

One of the guards said "Paniguro ning amo kay basin og kon si Ocampo g'yod ang gunman, kuyaw nga dunay motinguha og dautan aron pagpahilom niya." - Rene U. Borromeo