Witness identifies photog’s ‘gunman’

CEBU CITY — A jeepney dispatcher, who claimed to have witnessed the shooting of The Freeman photojournalist Allan Dizon last November, identified the alleged gunman in court the other day.

The prosecution placed on the witness stand 29-year-old dispatcher Hustiniano Doller as its first witness. Dizon’s wife, Amelita, was not able to control herself and sobbed when Doller approached suspect Edgar Belandres and pointed to him as the alleged gunman.

Doller recalled that he was dispatching passengers bound for Opon, Lapu-Lapu City at an "unofficial" jeepney terminal along Soriano street near the SM mall in the early evening of Nov. 27 last year when he heard a gunshot. He said he quickly ducked to avoid being hit but later went to see where the gunshot came from.

Not far from where he was dispatching passengers, he said he saw Belandres disembark from a red motorcycle, remove his helmet, proceed toward Soriano street and moments later aim his gun at Dizon who fell on the ground after two gunshots.

But Doller failed to identify the motorcycle’s driver, saying the latter never took off his helmet.

Defense lawyers would have wanted to cross-examine Doller in the next hearing, but Regional Trial Court Judge Ireneo Lee Gako did not permit them, saying, "Let us not have that bad habit of conducting cross on the next setting."

Doller’s testimony, however, shook a little during cross-examination when he was asked why it took him six days after the incident to eventually issue a statement to the police.

He said he decided to testify because he had a hard time sleeping at night. But those in court later laughed when he said he had a hard time sleeping because he had to take care of his four-month-old baby.

Yet Doller said he voluntarily issued a statement to the authorities who went to the crime scene to look for witnesses.

He denied having been promised special treatment if he testified in the case. He said he was hesitant to testify at first because he was afraid that he would be harmed.

In a manifestation earlier filed with the prosecutor’s office, Belandres said he has been treated unfairly since his arrest.

He insisted that the supposed hot pursuit operation that led to his arrest and co-respondents Gaudencio Perales and Mariano Villarin was "staged" and that they were "framed up."

Belandres opted not to submit his counter-affidavit, saying the results of the investigation "would not be difficult to perceive."

The three respondents were arrested inside Belandres’ house sniffing shabu. Aside from the murder charge, they are also facing drug charges.

Perales and Villarin also waived their rights to submit counter-affidavits, saying they do not want to dignify the proceedings where they felt they have been "unjustly aggrieved."

They said they are confident of getting fair treatment in a full-blown trial in court. — Freeman News Service