Cops charged with robbery-slay of RPN 9 cameraman acquitted

MANILA, Philippines - A Caloocan City court yesterday acquitted two police officers, one of them the commander of a police precinct, accused in the robbery-slaying of an RPN 9 cameraman Ralph Ruñez in front of his home nearly three years ago.

Police Inspector Bryan Limbo, former comander of Caloocan City Police Community Precinct 9 in Bagong Silang, and his subordinate, Police Officer 3 Aristotle De Guzman, tagged with masterminding the robbery and shooting to death of Ruñez on July 28, 2006 were acquitted of the charges.

In her 40-page decision, Caloocan Regional Trial Court Judge Eleanor Kwong of Branch 128 acquitted Limbo and De Guzman simply because “the prosecution failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

Lawyer Butch Seraspi, Branch 128 Clerk of Court, clarified further that the accused were acquitted “not because they did not do it” but that there simply was “no evidence to show that the accused conspired to commit the crime.”

In the same decision, the court said that it was beyond dispute that the theory of the prosecution hinged on the alleged conspiracy that took place days before the crime was actually committed.

Together with Limbo and De Guzman, the City Prosecutor of Caloocan City charged Ernani Magnayon, Charles Galarce alias “Balat” and two other still unidentified males of robbery with homicide.

The court said the prosecution failed to establish the existence of a conspiracy other than the testimony of Galarce.

Original hitman

Galarce, the original hitman, who was to have shot Ruñez on July 26, 2006, backed out the last minute and was replaced by Magnayon in the incident. Galarce was later released as a state witness while Magnayon was later killed by a jailguard while detained and awaiting trial at the Caloocan City Jail.

Magnayon, a police asset, took the place of Galarce and shot dead Ruñez as he entered the gate of his home on July 28, 2006. Magnayon was charged with frustrated murder for the attempt on Galarce. His case was eventually dismissed when he was “killed accidentally” in jail. Magnayon could have been the missing link to nail down the accused, opined a court official who will not be named.

Seraspi said the acquittal of Limbo and de Guzman is immediate and executory. None of the prosecution witnesses testified as to their knowledge of the conspiracy, the court added. The court also noted that the defense of Limbo was inherently weak being anchored on alibi, the burden of proof still rested with the prosecution.

“”The prosecution must rely on the strength of its evidence and not on the weakness of the defense’s claim,” the court said.

“Regardless of the merit or lack of it (of defenses forwarded by the accused), both (Limbo and De Guzman) must still be acquitted on reasonable doubt,” the court said.

Although the prosecution established the crime of robbery with homicide on July 28, 2006, it failed to prove that Limbo and De Guzman participated in it.

The plan was hatched somewhere in Bulacan on July 21, 2006.

After the reading of the sentence that took nearly one and a half hours, a visibly relieved Limbo and De Guzman tightly embraced in open court. Elated family and relatives rushed to hug them.

The STAR gathered early on that the victim’s wife Rowena and their children have left for the United States soon after Ruñez was killed.