Cop killer gets life sentence

A jobless man was meted life imprisonment by the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) for killing a policeman who went after him during a robbery in May last year.

Judge Jesus Bersamira, of RTC Branch 166 also ordered Randy Galla of San Isidro, Barangay Tanglaw, Antipolo City to pay the heirs of PO3 Victor Santiago, the sum of P2.2 million in actual and moral damages.

Galla was found guilty of robbery with homicide and violation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) gun ban. Aside from charges of life imprisonment for homicide, Galla was also sentenced to a maximum of four years in jail without the benefit of probation for the gun violation.

Galla claimed he was in his house taking care of his three-year-old child when the incident occurred on May 28. He said he went to his aunt’s house in Quezon City the following day to borrow money for his child’s milk.

Bersamira dismissed Galla’s alibi and gave credence to his positive identification by witnesses in the killing of Santiago.

According to court records, Galla and five cohorts robbed jeepney passengers Concepcion Raganas of her Nokia 3210 cell phone and Marvin Sison of P40 during a holdup along Marcos Highway in Barangay de la Paz, Pasig City.

Santiago and a companion, also of the Marikina City police station, were on board a patrol car when they chanced upon the jeepney robbery. Upon seeing the approaching policemen, Galla and his companions scampered off to different directions.

Apparently thinking he was cornered, Galla, armed with a caliber .38 revolver, opened fire at Santiago, hitting him in the body. The policeman died while being taken to the hospital.

A day later, men of Superintendent John Sosito, Pasig City police chief, arrested Galla in Barangay Bagong Nayon in Antipolo City. Sosito’s men recovered from him the firearm used in shooting Santiago. Witnesses, including Sison, positively identified Galla, in a police line-up as the one who robbed him of his money and killed Santiago. – Non Alquitran