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Police: Cartagena admits role in Rojas slay case
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
DENNIS Cartagena, one of the suspects in the killing of Ajuy vice mayor Ramon Rojas, is singing like a canary.
Senior Supt. Ricardo dela Paz, Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) director said Cartagena has admitted his involvement in the shooting to death of Rojas in Ajuy town proper last May 22.
Dela Paz and a team of the IPPO Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team fetched Cartagena from Butuan City where he was arrested Sunday afternoon.
Cartagena’s co-accused, suspected triggerman Edgar Cordero, was killed in a shooting incident at Brgy. Mahay, Butuan City Friday evening. Cordero’s killers remain at-large.
Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas, Police Regional Office (PRO-6) director, said he dispatched dela Paz to Butuan City “to ensure the safety and security of Cartagena.”
Dela Paz said the Butuan City police turned over Cartagena to the IPPO custody yesterday morning.
“In our conversation, he admitted his participation in the assassination of vice mayor Rojas,” dela Paz said.
The IPPO director said he will reveal more details on Cartagena’s confession when they arrive in Iloilo.
Dela Paz said Cartagena’s cooperation in the investigation will resolve the Rojas slay case.
As of presstime, Cartagena and the IPPO team are on their way back to Region 6.
Cuevas said Cartagena’s statement can only corroborate the statements of other witnesses in the murder charges now pending with the Regional Trial Court.
“Under the law, the judicial confessions cannot implicate other personalities in the case but such can support the allegations of the witnesses. The suspect cannot incriminate another person but he can narrate facts that will strengthen the case,” Cuevas said.
Since Cartagena is one of the major suspects in the case, “he cannot become a witness since he is the least innocent.”
“But he will be treated as a high risk detainee because of his involvement in the case,” Cuevas said.
Cartagena is believed to be the driver of the motorcycle used in the assassination while Cordero pulled the trigger on Rojas.
Lindesy Buenavista was accused of helping plan the assassination while businessman Vicente Espinosa was the alleged mastermind.
But the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutors Office dismissed the charges against Buenavista and Espinosa.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
EDGAR Cordero and Dennis Cartagena may have been trapped into an ambush Friday last week.
This is the assessment of the Butuan City police as they try to figure out the shooting incident which resulted in the death of Cordero, the alleged gunman of slain vice mayor Ramon Rojas of Ajuy, Iloilo.
Supt. Jun Dumo, Butuan City police precinct 1 chief, said Joe Bajade, the man who drove the motorcycle Cordero and Cartagena rode on last week, may have set up the two Rojas slay suspect.
Citing his conversation with Cartagena, Dumo said it was Bajade who stopped to urinate near an unfinished bridge at Brgy. Mahay, Butuan City.
“While they were relieving themselves, several shots rang and Cartagena saw Cordero hit in his body. Cartagena then sought cover to avoid being shot. After the gunfire, he saw two emerge from a dark area where the shots came and boarded Bajade’s motorcycle. We have reason to believe that Bajade might be involved in this incident. He remains at-large as of now,” Dumo said.
Dumo said Bajade, who is believed to be a native of Passi City, accompanied Cordero and Cartagena from Iloilo to Butuan more than a month ago.
“Dati na silang magkasama pa dyan sa Iloilo. Bajade is married to a member of the Ecleo family in Dumagat Island reason why they have a house here,” Dumo added.
Dumo said they will charge Bajade with murder for the death of Cordero and frustrated murder for the failed attempt on Cartagena’s life.
But who is Bajade?
Further check with the police later showed that Bajade might be a relative of Lindsey Buenavista, one of the suspects in the Rojas murder case. Records from the Banate police station show that Buenavista’s middle name is Bajade.
Buenavista’s father Rudy earlier claimed that Cordero and Cartagena stayed in their house in days before Rojas was gunned down in Ajuy town proper.
The Buenavista residence allegedly served as the safehouse for Cordero and Cartagena through the help of Lindsey Buenavista.
But Rudy Buenavista later retracted his statements for still unknown reasons.
The Iloilo Provincial Prosecutors Office has exonerated Lindsey Buenavista and alleged mastermind Vicente Espinosa from the murder charges for lack of sufficient charges.
The Banate police personnel said Buenavista is facing carnapping with homicide charges for the killing of a businessman in Banate May this year.
MORE TWISTS
Another twist in the Rojas slay case is the surprise visit of a lawyer identified with the law office that defended Espinosa.
Atty. Edeljulio Romero, one of the Espinos counsels, said his junior associate, Christopher Aspera, went to Butuan City Sunday upon request of a client.
Romero refused to name the person who sent Aspera to Butuan City citing the confidentiality of the lawyer-client relationship.
Romero said he was at first hesitant to allow Aspera to help Cartagena “because it is complicated.”
“I was one of the major players in the case being the lawyer of Espinosa. But I since he is a young lawyer, he also needs to handle big cases such as this for his career advancement,” Romero said.
Senior Supt. Ricardo dela Paz, Iloilo provincial police director, and a team of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team personally fetched Cartagena from Butuan City.
Dela Paz said Cartagena was surprised with the sudden appearance of Aspera at the Butuan City police precinct to offer his legal services.
“Cartagena said he does not know Aspera and refused the latter’s offer,” dela Paz said. (With reports from Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo)
PROVINCIAL government officials and employees cannot as yet count on the P37.9 million appropriation ordinance enacted last Tuesday by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for the release of their 10-percent salary increase because the measure suffers from legal infirmities, top capitol officials said.
Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada said the enactment of the appropriation ordinance, which was made upon the initiative of Vice Governor Rolex T. Suplico, does not comply with the requirements of the Local Government Code and should be deemed illegal.
“Vice Governor Suplico proposed an appropriation measure based on Local Budget Circular No. 88 dated June 20, 2008 of the DBM, and not on the basis of the request for supplemental budget submitted by Governor Tupas, contrary to what the law says” Mejorada pointed out.
“This is a big blunder on the part of Suplico as it violates the basic principle in budgeting that the executive proposes, the legislature disposes,” he added.
And as a consequence, provincial officials and employees are not likely to get their 10-percent increases retroactive to July 1, 2008 until a valid ordinance is enacted by the Sanggunian, Atty. Salvador “Kiting” Cabaluna III, provincial legal officer, said.
Cabaluna said that Section 318 of the Local Government Code vests the power to determine the executive budget on the chief executive, or the Governor in this case.
“The Sanggunian, on its own, cannot appropriate funds unless there is a request from the Governor, and backed by a certification of availability of funds by the Provincial Treasurer,” Cabaluna said.
“The power of the Sanggunian is only to give legislative authorization for the appropriation, nothing more, nothing less,” he said.
Because of this, Cabaluna said that the ordinance will necessarily have to be vetoed by Governor Tupas.
“The governor, much as he wants to implement the early release of the salary hike, is left with no choice but to exercise his power of veto because of the elementary blunder,” Cabaluna said.
Among the defects cited by Cabaluna are that it wasn’t made on the basis of a request or proposal from the chief executive, that it was enacted without a corresponding certification from the provincial treasurer as to the availability of funds, and that it was approved without going through the three-reading rule.
Mejorada added that this ordinance finds no basis in law as to its form.
The Code only speaks of two classes of budget ordinances, the “annual budget” and the “supplemental budget,” he said.
Suplico denominated this ordinance as an “appropriation ordinance,” he said.
“To which class does this appropriation ordinance belong?” he asked.
Mejorada said the action of the Sanggunian is clearly “ultra vires,” or beyond its authority to approve. “Suplico is unlawfully creating an entirely new class of appropriation ordinance,” he said.
“What is painful to contemplate is that eight members of the Sanggunian, including two lawyers in the persons of Arthur ‘Toto’ Defensor Jr. and George Demaisip, ratified this stupid and illegal act pushed by the vice governor,” Mejorada said.
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