Interviewed over the TV Program "Dateline Cabanatuan" aired over local cable Multinetwork Thursday night, Joson expressed belief that the murder case is already a closed one.
"I believe that its chance of being revived is slim," he said during the program hosted by Dr. Rolan Esteban and lawyer Ruperto Sampoleo. Joson’s eldest son, Edward Thomas who is running for Congress in the third district, also guested during the affair.
The possibility of re-opening the murder case was raised by Joson’s gubernatorial rival, three-term third district Rep. Pacifico Fajardo during a recent consultation meeting with non-government organizations (NGOs) and civic groups in Cabanatuan City.
Fajardo claimed that a vital witness in the case has sent feelers to surface and shed light on the cold-blooded murder. However, Fajardo withheld the name of the witness.
Perez and his aide Diomedes Catabas were gunned down on April 22,1995 in Barangay La Torre, Talavera, Nueva Ecija following an alleged altercation with Joson. Perez was challenging Joson for the governorship when killed, barely two weeks before the elections.
Joson, his younger brother reelectionist Quezon Mayor Mariano Cristino and nine others were detained at Camp Crame and charged with double murder and frustrated murder in connection with the killings. — Manny Galvez