Cops nab gunman in newsman’s slay

A missing jailguard, positively identified by witnesses as the triggerman in the ambush-slay of a tabloid reporter three months ago, was arrested last Tuesday afternoon by Northern Police District (NPD) operatives.

Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, NPD director, presented to media yesterday SJO1 Ramon Rivera alias "Bodek," formerly of the Navotas City Jail and currently an AWOL officer of the Cainta Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Rivera is one of the main suspects in the shooting to death of former Saksi reporter Alberto Orsolino, 44, of LUPHA, Gozon Compound, Tonsuya, Malabon City.

Rivera was arrested after months of surveillance by operatives of the District Police Intelligence Unit (DPIU) at around 4:30 p.m. along Congressional Avenue in Quezon City.

Bataoil said Rivera was arrested on the strength of a warrant for another homicide case issued by Malabon Judge Benjamin Antonio.

The warrant issued by Antonio ordered law enforcers to arrest Rivera, including SJO2s Raul Esgana and Robert Enriquez; JO3 Luis de Juras Jr.; SJO1s Ricardo Mercado, Raul Manalapat and Jon-Jon Malapit, all of the Navotas City Jail, for the fatal beating of inmate Dandy de Jesus in December 2004.

De Jesus was allegedly clubbed to death by the jailguards after the prison facility’s Christmas party because he "know too much" about the anomalies being perpetrated by jail officers.

Authorities said this was one of the reasons Rivera sought transfer to the BJMP facility in Cainta.

Orsolino, it will be recalled, was shot to death by two suspects on board a motorcycle at the Caloocan-Malabon City boundary on Letre Road on May 16.

Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton, Caloocan City deputy police chief and concurrent Station Investigation and Detective Management Bureau (SIDMB) chief, told The STAR they ruled out the slay as work-related because recent findings pointed to protection money and revenge as the likely motive.

Orsolino, 45, who covered Malacañang as a tabloid reporter, also wore other hats as kagawad of Barangay Tonsuya, president of a neighborhood homeowners’ association and three-time president of the Camanava Press Corps.

Orsolino was reported to have been marked for execution and had been receiving death threats following the alleged dismissal of a case charging him for the murder of Frank Sabe Jr., a neighbor in Tonsuya, on March 17, 2004.

"Ang puno’t dulo ay ang pagkapatay kay Frank Sabe Jr.," Cuaton said.

Orsolino, being both a community leader and a reporter, had figured in previous run-ins with Sabe at the Gozon Compound.

Cuaton said when Sabe was stabbed and shot dead on March 18, 2004, Orsolino was immediately tagged as the main suspect and was marked for execution.

A case was brought against Orsolino who was later acquitted for insufficient evidence.

Two days before the anniversary of Sabe’s death, Orsolino was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding gunmen as he set out for work, succumbing to a long gunshot wound in the left side of the body.

Rivera, witnesses said, is a relative of Sabe and was suspected to be Sabe’s protector for his illegal activities. When Sabe was killed, Rivera allegedly lost his milking cow, prompting him to plot Orsolino’s murder. – With Pete Laude