Robber gets death for mall massacre

A Pasay City judge sentenced yesterday a store helper to die by lethal injection for killing three persons during a jewelry heist at shopping center two years ago.

Judge Vicente Yap imposed the death penalty on Antonio Manuel Uy after he was found guilty of committing robbery with homicide. His accomplice Ricky Ladiana remains at large.

Killed was security guard Gilbert Esmaquilan, janitor Felix Aranez and maintenance man Delfin Biniahan. The guard sustained six stab wounds while Aranez suffered 11 hack wounds and Biniahan five lacerations.

The bodies of Esmaquilan, Aranez and Biniahan were found on separate floors of the Jeepney Shopping Center (JSC) on Taft Avenue, Pasay City on June 27, 2001.

"The court has come into the conclusion that the prosecution has succeeded in discharging its duty to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt by independent evidence and not on the weakness of the evidence of the defense," Yap said.

Court records showed Uy and Ladiana, broke into JSC in the late hours of June 26. Roger Gonzales Tan, supervisor of the maintenance department, said he was informed the following day that the establishment was robbed and that three dead bodies were found inside.

Ricardo Salvador, JSC personnel manager, immediately ordered an inventory of the store’s items and discovered that 191 pieces of jewelry and leather bags amounting to P327,340 were missing. The guard’s service firearm was also taken.

The accused also took a black Honda Civic, owned by JSC, using it as their get-away vehicle. It was later found abandoned along Katipunan Road, Quezon City. The suspects fled and hid at a house in Palawig, Zambales.

A breakthrough came when a certain Eduardo de la Cruz told his relative, Senior Police Officer 3 Rodrigo Urbina of the Philippine National Police-Mobile Patrol Group, that he "unwittingly" helped the suspects in the robbery. On June 29, they came to his house in Cupang, Antipolo requesting him to bring them to a house in Zambales.

On their way to Zambales, Uy narrated what happened at the JSC. He regretted they were unable to open the JSC’s vault which would have assured their family of a good life even if he died in the process.

Uy was captured on July 11. Police recovered a pair of diamond earrings and a diamond ring and the guard’s caliber .38 revolver.

The suspect denied the allegations when arrested. However, witnesses for the defense failed to appear in three hearings.– Evelyn Macairan