Victim’s mom asks DOJ to implead mayor’s son

Santa Fe May 2016 killing

More than a year after a political campaigner was brutally shot to death in the dead of night, two days before the May 9, 2016 elections in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island, the matter remains in limbo as the victim’s family now seeks a review of the case by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.

In a petition filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ), Josefina de Lima, mother of 43-year-old Gilbert de Lima, requested the DOJ to reverse and set aside a resolution by Prosecutor Ludivico Cutaran, which denied a motion for reconsideration filed by Josefina last Feb. 8, 2017.

Describing Cutaran’s resolution as “highly arbitrary, completely baseless, grossly unjustified and manifestly erroneous,” Josefina asked the DOJ to reinstate the murder charge against respondent Pablo Paul Escarlan; and charge Joanes Paulo Esgana, eldest son of Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana, as an accomplice to Gilbert’s killing.

NBI investigation

The motion stemmed from a murder complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against Esgana and Escarlan on behalf of Josefina in August 2016, months after Gilbert was shot multiple times in front of Mayor Esgana’s house in Santa Fe town on the evening of May 7, 2016.

A report submitted by the NBI to Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba cited the testimony of eyewitness Jake Oftana Hijapon, a carpenter who at the time of the elections worked in support of a certain candidate.

According to the NBI witness, while he was passing the highway in front of Mayor Esgana’s house, he heard loud voices in a heated altercation coming from inside the gate of the house.

Thinking that the person having an argument inside the mayor’s gate might be one of his companions, Hijapon decided to stop.

Hijapon told the NBI that he then hid his motorcycle at the corner of the road, slowly moved closer and hid behind a tree to eavesdrop.

Although he could not figure out what the argument was about, Hijapon identified the persons arguing as Gilbert de Lima, who he said was a former employee of the Esganas, and Joanes Paulo Esgana, the mayor’s son.

According to the witness, he then saw Gilbert go out of the gate and sit on his motorcycle across the road, just in front of Esgana’s house.

Hijapon added that just as he was about to leave his hiding place, he heard sudden bursts of gunfire. He then saw Gilbert lying with his face to the ground beside his parked motorcycle.

Thereafter, the witness claimed to see Pablo Escarlan carrying a gun and coming closer to Gilbert, shooting the latter at close range around five more times on the head, face and chest.

Escarlan, who is Paulo Esgana’s uncle, reportedly then dragged Gilbert’s body across the street to Mayor Esgana’s house while Paulo stood watching at the gate.

“Witness … likewise noticed that when the gate was already open in order for Paul Escarlan to continue dragging the body of De Lima and place it inside the gate, he then saw Mayor Jose Esgana already standing inside the gate and watching Paul Escarlan,” the report signed by NBI Regional Director Patrocio Bernales Jr. said.

A certification issued by the Santa Fe Police Station said that at around 11:33 p.m. of May 7, 2016, police responded to a shooting incident that transpired in front of the mayor’s house. Upon arrival at the scene, they saw a dead person lying inside the mayor’s gate with several gunshot wounds in his body.

The police further claimed that upon investigation based on blood markings on the road, they found that the victim was shot in front of the mayor’s house but was dragged and placed inside the gate.

“Hijapon’s claim therefore of the incident, was corroborated by the initial findings of the PNP Santa Fe Police station,” the NBI complaint further read.

“Paulo Esgana did not do anything when Paul Escarlan was shooting the victim, instead his inaction consented to the criminal act … considering that he is the one who had a prior altercation with the victim. Worse, by opening the gate of their house, he helped the assailant Paul Escarlan in destroying the crime scene when he allowed the latter to drag the victim and place him inside the gate,” the report added.

Murder charges were recommended by the NBI against Escarlan and the younger Esgana.

Esgana’s defense

In his counter-affidavit, Paulo Esgana said that Hijapon was “obviously lying to (sic) his teeth.”

Esgana claimed that Hijapon was sighted by several residents of Kinatarcan Island on an islet several nautical miles away from mainland Santa Fe at around the time of the shooting.

“My father, Mayor Jose Esgana, wanted to go out of our house but I and my uncle Paul Escarlan and our volunteers tried to restrain my father as we were all still concerned that the incident is a bait for my father to go out and we told him that somebody might be out to assassinate him,” Paulo said in his affidavit.

“The event that evening was just so shocking and traumatizing for us that we did not even know what to do,” Paulo added.

Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Rustom Presas Jr., in resolving the complaint filed by NBI-7, found no probable cause to charge Paulo Esgana with murder as “he was not the person who per witness testimony shot the victim.”

“By this fact alone, there is no active ingredient that would connect him to the crime of murder or the very least as an accomplice in the crime,” said Presas.

Presas also downgraded the charge against Escarlan from murder to homicide as “the alleged shooting was a result of a spur-of-the-moment action, therefore the element of evident premeditation is absent,” Presas said.

“Moreover, the dead body … also yielded a .38 caliber Armscor revolver with four live bullets in the chamber at his left hand. It can be seen that he was also armed to the teeth so no element of treachery (was) present.” Presas’ resolution added.

DOJ petition for review

“Clearly, there is probable cause that the crime of murder was committed and the respondents (Escarlan and Joanes Paulo) are probably guilty thereof. The defenses they raised are better left for the trial court to appreciate in a full blown hearing rather than in the determination of probable cause in the prosecution level,” said De Lima’s lawyer Judiel Pareja in his pleading received by the DOJ last May 18.

“The allegation of .38 revolver attribute to the victim is absurd and ridiculous. The pictures of the victim being dragged to the gate of the suspect’s house have vividly shown the absence of the firearm around. It was planted to make it appear that he was armed when it happened,” the petition further read.

“The Investigation Prosecutors were banking on the presence of .38 revolver in downgrading the crime from murder to homicide. … However, the persons involved in muddling the crime scene failed to realize that the deceased De Lima is right-handed. The story that they want us to picture became unrealistic because they placed the gun in the wrong hand of the victim.”

“The condition that he was lying face down when he fell to the ground is a physical evidence to prove that he was shot at the back. Being shot at the back while mounting on his motorcycle to leave the area are too glaring to be ignored.”

“Moreover, (a) reasonable mind would not believe … that Mayor Jose Esgana, his son … Paulo … and uncle … Escarlan did not know who dragged the body of the victim from the other side of the road to the gate of the house and the head quarter of Mayor Esgana. Police conspiracy to conceal the crime in this case is very apparent. Investigation has found out that the body was dragged across the road and yet the police had not identified the witness who dragged the victim,” it added.

“His (Joanes Paulo) inaction consented to the criminal act considering that he had a prior altercation with the victim. After the shooting, he did not report the crime to the police and cooperate to identify the suspect who happened to be his uncle. His inaction is tantamount to consent,” De Lima’s lawyer said.

Bitter act

Cebu Daily News yesterday tried to contact Mayor Esgana for comment, but he did not answer the calls. A text message sent to him was also left unanswered.

His spokesperson Niño Mike Torrevillas considered the filing of the case a “bitter act” of the three mayoral candidates who were defeated by then reelectionist Mayor Esgana in the 2016 elections.

“That is clearly politically motivated,” he told CDN over the phone.

Torrevillas said the victim was a supporter of all mayoral candidates in Santa Fe in the 2016 elections, except Mayor Esgana who ran for reelection under the Liberal Party.

The three mayoral candidates who challenged Esgana in last year’s polls were Dory Cabrera, Renato Saagundo and Romeo Batiancila.

Torrevillas urged the victim’s family to respect the decision of the prosecutor’s office.

Joanes Paulo, the eldest of Mayor Esgana’s four children, refused to issue any statement since the case against him was already dismissed by the prosecutor’s office, Torrevillas said.

“Just let justice take its course,” he added.