Ex-cop gets 4 life sentences for Isabela massacre

SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela – Justice has been finally served to families of massacre victims in the northern Philippine province of Isabela after a court on Wednesday found a former police officer guilty of a murderous rampage that killed four fishermen in 2002. PO2 Loreto Alipio Jr. was slapped with four life sentences and another 20 years for frustrated murder, in a 70-page resolution penned by Judge Reymundo Aumentado of Regional Trial Court Branch 20 (RTC) in Cauayan City. "Alipio took advantage of his position as police officer and there was premeditation, treachery, and abuse of superior strength in killing these fishermen from the North," the judgment said. The resolution also revealed that the lone survivor of the massacre had pointed to Alipio as one of the four gunmen who waylaid their group on November 7, 2002. The fishermen were on board a passenger jeep on its way to sell their produce in Pampanga when Alipio and three others ambushed them along the National Highway in Naganacan village, Sta. Maria, Isabela. Four of the five passengers died on the spot. They were identified as Nestor Castillo, Rolando Castillo, Louie Castillo and Fidel Susa, while the driver, Rofel Castillo, survived the attack. All are from Buguey, Cagayan. Records from the police showed that Rofel, who himself was wounded by the burst of gunfire from M16 rifles, was able to drive back to nearby Enrile town in Cagayan, where he reported the incident to police personnel manning a checkpoint. Former Buguey Vice-Mayor Loreto Alipio Sr., the former policeman’s father and who was earlier tagged as the mastermind, was cleared of charges linking him to the murders. Meanwhile, the younger Alipio’s three cohorts remained unknown as the court said it is still verifying their identities. The former police officer is set to indemnify the victim’s families of some P3.2 million in moral and exemplary damages.—Floro Taguinod/JV, GMANews.TV