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Trial on murder of Aurora publisher suspended indefinitely


DINGALAN, Aurora – Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6 Judge Jansen Rodriguez suspended indefinitely the trial of the murder case against the remaining accused in the May 2005 killing of newspaper publisher Philip Agustin following the dismissal of the case against former mayor Jaime Ylarde. Rodriguez told GMANews.TV by phone that they have no recourse but to suspend the hearing against the two other accused, Nilo Morete and Manuel Alday pending their arrest. Last month, the court ordered Ylarde released from detention at the Manila City Jail after Agustin’s daughter, Rosebelle Agustin-Cruz, issued an affidavit of desistance against the former mayor, who was tagged as the mastermind behind her father’s gunslaying. Agustin was the publisher of Starline Times Recorder. On the night he was killed, he had delivered for distribution 500 copies of the newspaper’s May 2-8, 2005 special edition detailing Ylarde’s alleged irregularities, including the construction of a cockpit arena, misuse of funds intended for relief, resettlement and rehabilitation of flash flood and landslide victims during the calamities of 2004. He was gunned down shortly before midnight of May 10, 2005 inside his daughter’s house in Barangay Paltic. His expose’ reportedly angered Ylarde who ordered him killed. Ylarde has denied involvement in the killing and even voluntarily turned himself in to the Baler RTC Branch 66, which assumed original jurisdiction over the case. Ylarde was not included in the original information filed by the prosecution panel, prompting Agustin-Cruz to file a motion for reconsideration which was later granted. In July 2006, the Supreme Court ordered the venue of the trial transferred to the Manila RTC. Rodriguez said the court cannot do anything over the younger Agustin’s decision to withdraw her complaint against the former Mayor. -Ronald Leander, GMANews.TV
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