Three members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) have been found guilty of two counts of murder for the killings in 1986 of labor leader Rolando “Ka Lando” Olalia and his aide Leonor Alay-ay.
Sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in jail without eligibility for parole in each of the two cases were RAM members Fernando Casanova, Dennis Jabatan and Desiderio Perez in a decision written by Judge Marie Claire Victoria Mabutas Sordan of Branch 97 of the Antipolo City regional trial court (RTC).
Those convicted were also ordered to pay the heirs of Olalia P1.2 million in civil, moral, exemplary and temperate damages.
For the heirs of Alay-ay, those convicted were ordered to pay P900,000 in civil, moral, exemplary and temperate damages.
The RTC ordered that “all monetary awards shall earn interest at the legal rate of six percent per annum from the date of finality of this decision until fully paid.”
The cases against the other accused – Carilo Almario, Jose Bacero, Richard Dicon, Gilbert Galicia, Oscar Legaspi, Filomeno Maligaya, Gene Paris, Freddie Sumagasay, and Edger Sumido – have been archived subject to reactivation once they are arrested and presented before the court for trial.
“The Court has carefully sifted through the volumes of records of these cases and is fully convinced that the prosecution was able to establish beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused in these cases,” the decision stated.
“The prosecution through the witnesses it presented was able to show the participation of accused Desiderio Perez, Dennis Jabatan and Fernando Casanova,” it said.
The decision also said:
“Through evidence adduced during hearing on the petitions for bail, it is clear that the operation involved in these cases involved careful planning and surveillance.
“There should be no doubt, therefore, that the qualifying circumstance of evident premeditation, has been satisfactorily proved.
“The aggravating circumstance of abuse of superior strength, employing means to weaken the defense and uninhabited place, these too, have been satisfactorily established by the evidence submitted by the prosecution.”
Reacting to the RTC ruling, the family of Olalia on Tuesday, Oct. 12, expressed elation over the decision even though only three of the 13 accused got convicted.
“Today is a day of celebration and of restored belief in our judicial system,” reads the statement issued by Ka Lando’s son, lawyer Rolando Rico C. Olalia.
“It is also a day of loss and a day of remembrance in honor of two brave and honorable men we were privileged to know as father and as a friend,” he said.
Among the 13 accused, Col. Red Kapunan who is currently the Philippines’ Ambassador to Germany, was acquitted in 2016 after the court granted his demurrer to evidence which assailed the prosecution’s failure to show his guilt.
“Even though the Hon. Marie Claire Victoria Mabutas Sordan of the Regional Trial Court of Antipolo has found accused Casanova, Jabatan and Perez guilty for the murder of our dad and Leonor, our family declares for all to know that our fight for justice is not over,” the younger Olalia said.
“Our victory today has only stiffened our resolve to never abandon our search for the remaining nine men involved in our father’s brutal killing,” he stressed.