Man meted life for killing La Union treasurer

BAUANG, La Union – A man accused of killing the municipal treasurer of this town on Aug. 6, 2007 was sentenced yesterday by the Regional Trial Court here to suffer reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment) without eligibility of parole.

Judge Ferdinand Fe of RTC Branch 67, in his 19-page decision, also ordered Rogelio Albay alias Rogelio Ordoña to pay the heirs of his victim, Felicidad Picar, of more than P4 million indemnity.

“Wherefore, judgment is hereby rendered finding the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder qualified by treachery and is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua without eligibility of parole,” Fe said in his Sept. 8 decision which was promulgated yesterday.

Ordoña was identified by witnesses as the gunman who mercilessly shot Picar on her head with caliber 45 in front of her house in the morning of Aug. 6, 2007 in Barangay Santiago, this town, while waiting for a ride that would bring her to her office at the municipal hall.

Ordoña was tailed by witnesses as he left the crime scene and later arrested by tanods and policemen when he tried to hide in a forested area near the seashore.

“Thank God, justice has been done,” said Cristine Picar-Manipon, one of the late treasurer’s daughters, after the promulgation.

La Union Vice Governor Martin De Guzman, who was Picar’s boss for nine years when he was mayor of Bauang from 1998 to 2007, was elated with the court’s decision saying that justice has been served.

“This is a triumph, not only for the people of Bauang but for the whole province. We have seen that there is justice for crime victims and this is what we are really waiting for, that finally justice has been served for the family of Manang Fely (Picar),” De Guzman said, who visited Picar’s former office at the town hall after the promulgation.

De Guzman believed that Ordoña was only a hired killer and there is still a mastermind because the incident is suspected to be election-related.

Picar has served as vice chairman of the municipal board of election canvassers that handle protests from losing candidates during the 2007 election.

Cris Palabay, coordinator of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, lauded the court’s effort in deciding the case for barely a year since the crime was committed.