Convicted of murder, frustrated and attempted murder by Judge Zosimo Escano, of Parañaque regional trial court branch 259, were Christopher Talita, 36, and Abraham Cinto, both jobless and residents of Sitio Imelda, Barangay Upper Bicutan, Taguig.
The two were also ordered to indemnify the family of Marilou Tolentino in the amount of P100,000 and pay wounded victim Marte Sarte’s P388,478 hospital bill.
Court record showed Sarte, 25, along with his wife Sunshine, 23, and their aunt Marilou who was holding the young couple’s two-year-old son, had just got on board Sarte’s Nissan Sentra car parked in front of their house along M. Espiritu street, Barangay San Antonio Valle 1, Parañaque when Talita walked up to the car and fired a volley of shots from a 9mm pistol at around 2 p.m. on Aug. 7, 1998.
Talita then ran to a motorcycle where Cinto was waiting and sped off. Unknown to the two, witnesses saw the license plate of their getaway bike.
Upon their arrest, Sunshine Sarte, who was not hurt along with her son, was able to positively identify Talita as the gunman who shot at them and Cinto as the driver of the motorcycle in a police line-up.
Marte Sarte was also able to positively identify Talita as the gunman in another-line-up while his grandmother Maxima Alejandro, who was about to wave them goodbye from their house before the ambush, also positively identified Talita and Cinto as the perpetrators of the ambush.
In their defense, Talita and Cinto denied involvement in the ambush saying they were only asked by a friend whom they identified as Virgilio Ramiro to look for a motorcycle that he could rent for a day.
Finding one Mannelito Balais and successfully borrowing his motorcycle, the two said they met with Ramiro in Cinto’s house where Ramiro paid them P500 for the bike and he drove away.
Escano, however, dismissed the denials of the two.
Ramiro, who was also charged by the police as a co-conspirator in the ambush, remains at large.
The court decision did not say if the police were able to establish the motive behind the ambush. It stated that the verdict was based on the positive identification of the accused by prosecution witnesses. – Rainier Allan Ronda