Tanauan City judge killed

TANAUAN CITY — A Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge here was killed in an ambush by three gunmen while he was on his way home to Dasmariñas Village in Makati City at noon yesterday, police said.

Chief Inspector Florendo Saligao, city police chief, said RTC Branch 83 Judge Voltaire Rosales, 48, had just stepped out of the justice hall and was cruising Gonzales street here aboard his Pajero when he was attacked.

Saligao said the three gunmen blocked Rosales’ path and then peppered his van with caliber 9-mm. bullets.

The gunmen, according to witnesses, had waited for Rosales at the corner of Gonzales and Platon streets, their black motorcycle and L-300 van parked a few meters away.

Rosales died about an hour later at the CP Reyes Hospital from six gunshot wounds in head, neck and left shoulder.

Dr. Patrick Katapang, who attended to Rosales at the emergency room, said the judge suffered massive blood loss with a bullet piercing through his brain.

Investigators said Rosales’ killing could have something to do with any of the convictions that he had handed down. He had handled cases involving heinous crimes.

A few years ago, Rosales, a native of Barangay Aplaya, Bauan, Batangas, meted life imprisonment on the kidnappers of the son-in-law of business tycoon John Gokongwei.

Lawyers close to the judge said he had received numerous death threats prior to his gunslaying. — with Rene Alviar