DOJ man gets 17 years for student’s slay in 1998

An agent of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Witness Protection Program was sentenced yesterday by a Parañaque City Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge to a maximum of 17 years in prison for shooting dead a student four years ago in Baclaran.

Branch 259 Judge Zosimo Escano also ordered Edwin Mulingbayan to indemnify the family of victim Rolando Tria a total of P495, 000 for funeral expenses and moral damages.

Zosimo acquitted Mulingbayan for the illegal possession of a firearm charge but sentenced him to three years in prison as well as disqualification to hold public office, and depriving him of the right of suffrage for violation of the firearms ban during the 1998 elections as provided in the Omnibus Election Code.

Despite Mulingbayan’s conviction, Crusade Against Violence (CAV) national president Carina Agarao said it was an "empty victory" for the Tria family.

Agarao accompanied the Trias to the promulgation of the decision yesterday.

Agarao in particular criticized Zosimo’s downgrading of the charges against Mulingbayan from murder to homicide.

"The judge did not appreciate the evidence presented to him. We are dismayed over the judge’s disregard of (Mulingbayan’s) superior strength over the victim," Agarao told The STAR in a phone interview.

Agarao also questioned why the judge only used the illegal firearm as an aggravating circumstance when Mulingbayan used his gun during an election gun ban.

Tria, then 26, was shot by Mulingbayan twice after an altercation in a jeepney on May 27, 1998 in Baclaran.

Witnesses said Mulingbayan accused Tria of hitting him with his elbow while they were clinging to the back of the jeepney, which was full of passengers.

It was a rainy afternoon at that time and people were jostling for rides home.

The jeepney driver ordered the two to get off the vehicle when the altercation ensued. Prosecution witnesses presented in court said they heard Mulingbayan hurl invectives at Tria.

Without warning, Mulingbayan shot Tria in the leg, causing him to fall to his knees.

The witnesses also said Tria held up his hands but Mulingbayan still fired another shot at him.

In his defense, Mulingbayan said he acted in self-defense because Tria and several other men ganged up on him after the jeepney altercation. He also said Tria had a knife with him.

But Agarao quoted witnesses as saying that Tria was unarmed during the incident, and he had his arms up as if pleading for his life.

In his 11-page decision, Zosimo said: "In the case at bench, Mulingbayan took perhaps only a split second to fire a second shot after the initial gunfire and while the victim Tria had his hands already upraised, it cannot be said that Mulingbayan took advantage of such situation. Upraised or not, he would have fired the second fatal shot just the same with nary a thought about his own safety."

Agarao said Tria’s family would appeal Mulingbayan’s verdict before the Court of Appeals.