TV reporter testifies on Cebu City ambush

CEBU CITY — The city prosecutor’s office summoned a television reporter the other day to testify on admissions made to the media by one of two suspects in the ambush-killing of two Customs officers last July.

In her testimony, GMA-7 reporter Jolene Bulambot told investigating prosecutor Victor Laborte how Juan Jesus Vergel de Dios cried and admitted being afraid when asked by media if he, indeed, pulled the trigger on Customs deputy collector Eduardo Lao and examiner Bennet Soreño in the late afternoon of July 24.

Bulambot also told the court that the first time she met De Dios and co-accused Rustico Fernandez was when the two were presented by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to the media and to Mayor Tomas Osmeña in the afternoon of Sept. 17.

Bulambot narrated that during the interview with reporters, De Dios admitted having allegedly been paid P5,000 and having allegedly driven the motorcycle he and Fernandez used during the ambush.

Bulambot said that while De Dios admitted having driven the motorcycle, he, however, denied having pulled the trigger on the two Customs officers.

She mentioned De Dios’ statement identifying Customs examiner Arnold Famor as the one who allegedly hired and paid them to do the killing.

During the media interview, De Dios positively identified Famor when he was made to look at a picture of the examiner.

Bulambot also narrated how De Dios told the media to just interview Fernandez as the latter was allegedly the one who fired the gun.

But Bulambot said she did not observe any lawyer who accompanied the two suspects when they were being asked questions by the media.

Bulambot told defense lawyer Dominic Elnar that it never occurred to her that the media interview without the suspects’ lawyers being present would be an NBI strategy to extract admissions from De Dios and Fernandez. - Freeman News Service