Kapunan acquitted in Olalia slay

MANILA, Philippines - Former colonel Eduardo Kapunan Jr. has been acquitted in the killing of labor leader Rolando Olalia and his aide Leonor Alay-ay in Antipolo City on Nov. 13, 1986.

In a decision penned by Judge Marie Claire Victoria Mabutas-Sordan, the Antipolo City Regional Trial Court Branch 97 on Wednesday granted the petition of Kapunan, a member of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, to dismiss the case.

Kapunan said the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

He denied claims that he instructed former sergeants Medardo Baretto and Eduardo Bueno Baretto to conduct surveillance, kidnap and kill Olalia and Alay-ay, adding that their testimonies failed to establish that he conspired with the 12 other respondents in the case.

Olalia was former chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno.

Baretto and Bueno had told the court that Kapunan instructed them to change the paint of the vehicles to be used in the kidnapping, asked them to meet him at Camp Aguinaldo and told them “to keep quiet about the operation.”

However, during cross-examination, Baretto said he did not witness the murder while Bueno said he could not be considered a witness.

Prosecution lawyer and Olalia’s nephew, Edre Olalia, told The STAR it was “unbelieveable” that the two sergeants would act without orders from their superior.

He said the National Union of People’s Lawyers and the Public Interest Law Center would file either a motion for reconsideration before the Antipolo court or a petition for review of the case with the Supreme Court.