2004 shooitn incident: Choy claims Ortiz tried to settle case

Radioman Cirse "Choy" Torralba yesterday claimed that the family of John Lloyd Ortiz, whom he accused of trying to kill him in 2004, offered him P1.5 million to settle the case.

Torralba revealed the information when he was presented before Regional Trial Court judge Stella Alma Cinco to rebut some of the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses that may affect the case that he filed against Ortiz.

Torralba said Ortiz's uncle named Raul approached his elder brother, Rene Torralba, and reportedly offered the amount for the settlement of the case, but he reportedly rejected the offer.

"The offer was made during the early stage of the case in court, but I turned down the offer to prove to them that I do not want money, but I want justice," said Torralba when interviewed after the court hearing.

But a close relative of Ortiz denied Torralba's claim that they offered even a single centavo for the settlement of the case. The 25-year old Ortiz insists that he is innocent.

Private prosecutor Adelino Sitoy presented Torralba before the witness stand to rebut the statement of Ortiz's girlfriend, Yvonne Magbanua, that it was not true that the radioman recognized the face of the person who shot him on June 8, 2004.

Magbanua, who used to work for Torralba when he was campaigning for Loren Legarda, said she called Torralba three times on his cellular phone to ask if he knew the gunman after she learned that Torralba was shot.

Magbanua said her former employer confided to her that he did not know the person who shot him while he was inside his car that was parked outside radio station DYAR where Torralba had an afternoon program.

"I decided not to tell anybody of my suspect, but only to the police investigators. I admit that I asked my friend, Eric Labrada, to secure a picture of Magbanua's boyfriend, and when I saw it, I recognized him as the one who shot me," Torralba said.

Torralba believed that Ortiz wanted to kill him because of his closeness to Yvonne.

The radioman was wounded on his left shoulder and arm in that shooting incident.

On the next hearing of the case on November 13, the defense will present another rebuttal witnesses. The hearing of the case was delayed for several months after Torralba asked that RTC judge Eric Menchavez, the judge who previously handled the case, would inhibit. - Rene U. Borromeo/QSB