Last Tuesday, the PNP and DILG presented to the media the man who, by his own admission, murdered broadcaster Percy Lapid.
If the man’s confession holds, this is a rare instance where dogged police work produced clear results. Too many assassinations, mainly by gunmen riding in tandem, have happened and their investigation produced scarce results.
The confessed gunman, Joel Estorial, claims he surrendered to the police fearing he, too, may be eliminated to completely cover up the crime. He named his associates in the dastardly crime as the brothers Edmon and Israel Dimaculangan. He also named a certain “Orly,” an inmate at the National Penintentiary, as the one who organized the assassination. The sum of P550,000 is said to have been shared by the killers.
Percy Lapid’s family welcomed the dramatic development in the case. They, however, requested the police to allow a “walk through” at the scene of the crime to more solidly verify the alleged gunman’s claims.
Notwithstanding Estorial’s extrajudicial confession, the case is not closed. Until the mastermind is identified, this case will remain wide open.
To be sure, police officers are on the hunt for the named accomplices. They should be able to corroborate Estorial’s account if they choose to cooperate with the investigation. The inmate named “Orly” still needs to be fully identified. The money trail must be found.
The investigation should, no doubt, look into the possibility that the assassins involved in gunning down Percy might have been involved in other such heinous operations. This could lead to the reopening of other cases that might have turned cold.
Since this particular murder happened, the mainstream media has been repeatedly highlighting Percy Lapid’s critical commentaries on former president Rodrigo Duterte and sitting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Ahead of any actual breakthough in the investigation, it seems mainstream media has been framing this murder as somehow politically motivated. Consequently, international media coverage of the murder has been similarly slanted.
The PNP, in a rather ham-handed way, added to the political slant by deploying detectives to the homes of a number of media practitioners. Police officers eventually apologized for the mistake.
More solid investigation into this murder should clarify the actual motives behind it.
Quarrying
In politics, as in most everything else, what is essential is invisible to the eye.
The Commission on Elections Second Division must be surprised by the popular reaction to their decision disqualifying Noel Rosal from assuming the governorship of Albay. The commissioners found that Rosal, then sitting mayor of Legaspi City, violated the law by releasing cash aid to poor tricycle drivers after the election ban took effect. Rosal won by a surprising landslide against the powerhopuse incumbent.
For good measure, the Comelec also disqualified Noel’s wife Geraldine Rosal who won for mayor of Legaspi City. Geraldine was cited in the complaint filed by a defeated candidate for the city council as an accomplice in the election offense.
Both have declared they will appeal the decision, bringing the case up to the Supreme Court if necessary. Since the legal issues will continue to be litigated, it should suffice to describe the decision to be a bit stern and probably tone-deaf.
In reaction to the Comelec ruling, large demonstrations have spilled out to the streets of Legaspi City. The civil society and religious groups spilling onto the streets denounce the Comelec for overturning the will of the people. Surprisingly, those protesting the Comelec ruling included Legaspi Bishop Joel Baylon.
Those familiar with the politics in the locality say that Rosal may have stepped on too many toes on the road to the governorship. The most significant of those toes belong to powerbrokers who make a killing by adding a surcharge of P15 to the P25 charged by the government for every cubic meter of sand quarried from the slopes of Mayon Volcano. The surcharge amounts to a form of extortion. This undocumented levy adds up to a pretty impressive sum considering the volume of quarrying going on.
Rosal declared the additional levy illegal and cracked down on those who collected it. It also appeared the new governor was on the way to restricting quarrying activities on the unstable slopes of the active volcano. Church leaders in Albay have been clamoring for quarrying acitvities to be curtailed if not totally banned. Doing so would put powerful business and political interests in the locality out of business.
Experts have been warning of the perils posed by quarrying on Mayon Volcano. Over a thousand people perished from deadly mudflows in the aftermath of Typhoon Reming that hit in 2006. Then in the wake of Super Typhoon Rolly just two years ago, 300 houses were swept away by lahar flows on Mayon’s slopes. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has been warning that unregulated quarrying could “remobilize” the lahar sitting on the slopes.
Former DENR secretary Roy Cimatu suspended quarrying operations in the area. A task force was formed to study the effects of quarrying on the river systems flowing from the volcano. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau, however, recommended the lifting of the ban. More destructive lahar flows happened.
It appears the massive public support Rosal drew in the last elections was due mainly to his promise to restrict quarrying activities at Mayon. The voters understood that the quarrying activities put their lives and possessions at great risk.
But it seems this stand against quarrying is what animates the powerful groups pushing for Rosal’s disqualification.