Jaylo, 3 others convicted for killing Army colonel

Former police Captain Reynaldo Jaylo and three others were convicted by the anti-graft court on Tuesday in connection with the July 1990 killing of Army Col. Rolando de Guzman, PA Maj. Franco Calanog and Avelino Manguera in Magallanes Commercial Center in Makati. In a 103-page Decision penned by Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro of the Sandiganbayan First Division, Jaylo was sentenced to 14 years and eight months imprisonment along with Patrolman Edgardo Castro, Pfc. William Valenzona and Pfc. Antonio Habalo Jr. They were also ordered to pay each of the victims P50,000 in damages and to jointly shoulder the cost of litigation. Zenaida de Guzman, the 67-year-old widow of the slain army colonel, broke down when the verdict was read. “I thank God for this. People say there is no more justice in this country. I’d like to tell them, there is justice. It may take a long time but you have to have faith and patience. In my case, I waited for 17 years," she said. However, none of the four accused appeared in court during promulgation. Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez, counsel for Jaylo, said he has no idea of the whereabouts of his client. The cases stemmed from a planned drug bust in the evening of July 10, 1990 which involved elements from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Western Police District and some undercover agents of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The lawmen were supposed to buy 10 kilograms of heroin from de Guzman and his colleagues and then effect an arrest. However, de Guzman and his companions allegedly resisted arrest and fired at the lawmen. The defendants were originally charged with murder but the court reduced this and convicted them of homicide citing the absence of evidence to support allegations of ‘treachery, premeditation and use of superior strength.’ Jaylo’s contention that the shootout was borne out of the ‘lawful performance of their duties’ was adopted by the rest of the accused. However, this was overruled by the court on the basis of evidence to the contrary including the defendants’ own conflicting testimonies. Defense lawyers also claimed there was a shootout but the Sandiganbayan questioned their failure to submit the guns allegedly used by the victims for proper identification with the slugs recovered from the crime scene. Likewise, the three justices of the court noted the absence of bullet holes or scratches or bloodstains on the two cars used by De Guzman and his group – a Volkswagen Beetle and a Saab – although Jaylo claimed he shot De Guzman who was hiding inside the Saab. In addition, the court junked the defendants’ claim that the victims forcefully resisted arrest, noting the absence of evidence to support this allegation. “Although the motive for the killing was not set out by the prosecution, the admission by the accused of the killing and their failure to convince the Court of their defense of lawful performance of duty shall cause the accused to suffer the consequences which the law imposes for the taking of human life," the court said. Jaylo was a former police officer who had admitted to numerous "kills" during his tenure. He has been associated with former police general Alfredo Lim - now a senator - as they both served at the National Bureau Investigation in the early '90s. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004 appointed Jaylo as chief of the Presidential Task Force on Illegal Recruitment. - GMANews.TV