Bus driver cleared of murder rap

A bus driver, who along with his conductor, was accused of killing a driver of an FX taxi in Mandaluyong City four years ago was acquitted by the Mandaluyong court yesterday.

Judge Edwin Sorongon of regional trial court Branch 214 said the prosecution failed to establish that driver Rolando de Guzman, conspired with his conductor Armando Aguilar in killing FX taxi driver Roderick Selda.

In his four-page decision, Sorongon asked the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to conduct a thorough probe against SP02 Silvano Varros of the Eastern Police District (EPD) Traffic Enforcement Group (TEG) why he released from his custody Aguilar, allegedly the real killer.

Court records show that De Guzman was driving a Dreamline Bus with Aguilar as his conductor on the north bound portion of EDSA when Selda’s FX taxi blocked their path in the middle of the road at 6 p.m. on July 17, 1998.

Aguilar, armed with a steel pipe, confronted Selda and a heated argument ensued. It was at the point that Aguilar hit Selda in the head with the steel pipe.

Traffic policemen, headed by SP02 Varros, immediately arrived at the scene. The cops held Aguilar and ordered de Guzman to bring Selda to the hospital.

Four days later, Selda died at the Pasig City General Hospital. However, before the victim expired, he was able to issue a statement to police investigators that it was Aguilar who hit him. It was not known why Varros let Aguilar go despite being identified by Selda of as his attacker. De Guzman and Aguilar were charged with murder. The prosecution tried to establish that de Guzman and Aguilar conspired in killing Selda.

However, Sorongon ruled that there was no evidence that would pin de Guzman to the crime since he was only at a steel wheel when Aguilar and Selda figured in an altercation.

"The fact that De Guzman and Aguilar were working as driver and conductor, respectively, in one bus, would not be sufficient to justify a conclusion that conspiracy existed between the two," the judge said in his decision. – Non Alquitran