THE prosecution has more than enough evidence to secure a conviction in the March 4 attack that killed Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, even without turning into state witness the four suspects who surrendered and the other suspects in custody, the lawyer of the Degamo family said yesterday.
Levito Baligod was referring to Joven Calibjo Javier, Joric Garido Labrador, Benjie Rodriguez and Osmundo Rojas who surrendered to the authorities after the attack on Degamo in his house in the province and the other suspects facing multiple murder charges.
“We can still prove the crimes charged based on the evidence available to the prosecution.
As of now, we don’t need them to become state witness,” Baligod told CNN Philippines.
“The evidence is sufficient already to successfully prosecute all of them without any of them becoming a state witness. Wala kaming plano na gagamitin kahit sino sa kanila na maging state witness (We have to plans to use any if them as state witness,” he added.
Baligod said the four have declined to file counter-affidavits, meaning they want the prosecutors to resolve the case based on the available evidence, while the rest were subjected to inquest.
He stressed that based on the statements of the suspects, the prosecution has enough evidence showing their separate but “conspiratorial roles” in the attack on Degamo in Pamplona town.
He said in a conspiracy, the act of one suspect constitutes an act of all those involved.
Baligod said this made him confident that the state prosecutors will resolve to indict them for multiple murder and the injuries sustained by 18 others in the brazen attack.
The Department of Justice earlier said it eyeing to place two of the suspects under the Witness Protection Program although Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said evaluation of their statements to see if they would qualify for the program was ongoing.
The DOJ may use a respondent as a state witness provided he is the least guilty among the accused and if the testimony is indispensable or crucial to the prosecution of the case.
Earlier, Remulla said suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves appears to be the mastermind in the attack, adding that if in the movies, the latter is the “executive producer and producer” of the plot to kill Degamo.
Teves, who continues to refuse to return to the country for fear for his safety, has denied any link or involvement in the killing.
Aside from being implicated in the Degamo killing, Teves is also facing multiple murder charges before the DOJ over the 2019 killing of three persons, as well as complaints of illegal possession of firearms.
