Sestoso murder case Preliminary probe reset to Aug. 15

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines —  Preliminary investigation on the murder of broadcaster Edmund Sestoso was reset to August 15, citing the failure of the police to make a reply of the counter-affidavit of Rene Bustamante who has been tagged by the police as the principal suspect by inducement in this case.

Counsel for the suspect, lawyer Joel Obar said the scheduled preliminary hearing at the City Prosecutor’s Office could not proceed due to the absence of the reply to Bustamante’s counter-affidavit.

Obar said the police should stop the practice of making trump-up charges against perceived enemies of the state, like his client Rene Bustamante, who he said has returned to the folds of the law, and is now employed in Cebu.

“Now they are forcing an issue against him (Bustamante) with the trump-up charges, I don’t think this can help in the peace process that is being started by the president,” Obar said. “I hope the police will look at the light of day because this is not good for them.”

Bustamante’s defense is for the police to produce the alleged gunmen, a certain “Sherwin” and “Mokong,” who could be in a better position, as sources of information, to connect Bustamante to the killing.

Obar was, however, told that Sherwin — whose real name is Jerryl Delantes — is now fighting for his life after a shooting incident Saturday in La Libertad town where his driver, a certain Richard Bustamante alias “Dondon,” was shot and declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

“They have to produce any or both of them because I want to cross-examine the sources. They cannot just bring charges but not present the sources of information,” Obar contended.

The lawyer challenged the police to produce the alleged killers of Sestoso in order for him to cross-examine them if they could be able to connect Bustamante to the Sestoso murder.

“If the police fail to produce the principal suspects by participation, I don’t think the case will even prosper in the level of the prosecutor’s office, Obar said.

If the information of Senior Supt. Raul Tacaca, director of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office, is correct that Richard Bustamante was the gunman who killed Sestoso — not Mokong or Sherwin — then “there’s something wrong with the story of the police. It has become more complicated for the police,” Obar argued.