Gunman in Esmeralda ambush gets 10 years

MANILA, Philippines - A gunman in the botched ambush on former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director Reynaldo Esmeralda was sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison Monday.

Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 handed down the verdict on Teodoro Abendaño.

The court found the accused guilty of two counts of frustrated murder.

Abendaño had pleaded guilty to frustrated murder charges filed against him and 10 others, including businessman Tyrone Ong, former police officer Perfecto Villanueva, Ronnie Ong, Ramoso Ramos and Alfredo Compoc.

Villanueva tagged former NBI director Magtanggol Gatdula as the mastermind. But the Department of Justice (DOJ) cleared Gatdula of any involvement in the ambush.

Aside from Gatdula, Ong’s driver, Gino Eustaquio, was exonerated. 

Esmeralda was in a car with his brother and driver when they were ambushed in Manila in February 2012.

According to Esmeralda, the attempt on his life was connected to the case the DOJ recommended against Gatdula for the alleged kidnapping and extortion of P6 million from Japanese Noriyo Ohara in 2011.