Suspect in Batangas mayor’s slay acquitted

TANAUAN CITY — The suspected gunman in the 2001 assassination of former Tanauan City mayor Caesar Platon was acquitted after the prosecution failed to establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In a nine-page decision, Judge Cristino Judit, of the Regional Trial Court-4th Judicial Region Branch in Balayan, Batangas, said the two witnesses — Maria Leonora Opelanio and Amado Azumbrado — failed to convince the court that accused Eduardo Gravozo was, indeed, involved in the killing.

Platon had just finished his speech during a campaign sortie in Tuy, Batangas on the night of May 7, 2001 when he was shot in the head several times, killing him on the spot.

Gravozo was arrested in Gumaca, Quezon in December 2001 for a robbery case. He had reportedly boasted to one of his drinking buddies that he was the one who shot Platon.

Judit described the testimony of Opelanio, Platon’s private secretary, as "not credible as it (was) tainted with improbability and far from believable given the circumstances surrounding the case."

The judge wondered why Opelanio, a trusted employee of the slain mayor, failed to execute a sworn affidavit "then and there but instead took eight months to do so."

Reacting to Judit’s verdict, Opelanio said, "I don’t want to talk about it because I don’t want to be reminded of what happened to him (Platon)."

The judge also questioned why the prosecution never presented the police officers who arrested Gravozo.

"How come the identity of the accused was never established by the arresting officers?" he asked.

On Azumbrado’s testimony, Judit said it "suffers the same infirmity" as Opelanio’s.

Azumbrado, Platon’s photographer-cum-bodyguard, also failed to give a description of the mayor’s gunman, Judit added.

According to the judge, Azumbrado did not volunteer any information to investigators immediately after the killing and only pointed to Gravozo as the alleged gunman when the police presented the suspect to him in Gumaca eight months later.

The prosecution, Judit said, failed to destroy the testimony of the defense witness that Gravozo was in San Pablo City when Platon was gunned down.

The STAR tried to reach Platon’s wife Bess on her cellular phone, but failed.