Ex-Palawan gov's aide convicted in murder of Doc Gerry Ortega

A Palawan judge has found guilty a suspect in the 2011 killing of broadcaster and environmentalist Gerardo "Gerry" Ortega.

Palawan provincial prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez told GMA News Online that Arturo "Nonoy" Regalado was found "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" by the Palawan Regional Trial Court Branch 52.

Rodriguez said Regalado was sentenced to reclusion perpetua., which carries a prison term of at least 20 years and one day and 40 years at most.

Regalado was the close-in aide/right hand of former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes and was also a Provincial Capitol employee under the former governor. Last January, the Supreme Court ordered the Palawan court to proceed with its trial of Reyes for Ortega's murder.

In a statement, Ortega's daughter Michaela said Regalado was "to be immediately transferred immediately to Iwahig Penal Colony."

Ortega was murdered in Puerto Princesa in January 2011.

In 2013, the Palawan court had already sentenced to reclusion perpetua the confessed gunman in the killing, Marlon Recamata, who pleaded guilty for the crime.

Reyes brothers

Reyes and his brother former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, who both denied the accusation and said their political enemies were behind the charges, went into hiding when a second Department of Justice (DOJ) panel of prosecutors came out with a ruling finding probable cause to charge them with murder.

This was after the first panel cleared the Reyes brothers from the charges for lack of evidence.

In the re-investigation, however, the second panel considered additional evidence presented by Ortega's daughter, Michaella, including documents containing supposed text messages between Joel Reyes and another suspect, Rodolfo Edrad Jr., from December 2010 to January 24, 2011, the day Ortega was gunned down.

Another piece of evidence was a compact disc containing recordings of Ortega's radio commentaries against the former governor.

Junjun Bumar, another suspect, had earlier admitted organizing the assassination squad that killed Ortega, and pointed to Joel Reyes as the alleged mastermind.

Ortega's death was linked to his hard-hitting radio commentaries on illegal mining activities in the island province.

Aside from being a broadcaster, Ortega was also a prominent civic leader and veterinarian who once headed Palawan's famous crocodile farm in Puerto Princesa City.

After fleeing the Philippines, the Reyes brothers were arrested in Thailand in September 2015. —Mark Merueñas/JST, GMA News