By FELIPE CELINO
ROXAS City – Controversial contractor Leodegario Labao Jr. did not show up in the press conference he scheduled yesterday.
But his three lawyers were there and they defended him from the murder case their client faces in connection with the assassination of Mambusao, Capiz vice mayor Abel Martinez.
Labao is running for mayor of Mambusao this May 13 elections. His lawyers said the murder case is an act of “injustice” out to destroy their client’s political career.
According to Atty. Leodegario Dadivas, the murder case is being used by Labao’s political foes out to destroy the contractor’s reputation.
He said this second wave of case -- murder with the use of unlicensed firearm -- against Labao won’t give Martinez justice.
Dadivas stressed that even in the first wave of case -- filed against two workers of Labao, Jerson Magallanes and Renato Lago – Labao did not figure.
“It is clear that the motive behind all of these is politics,” Dadivas said.
Retired Judge Roger Patricio, another Labao lawyer, said the case won’t prosper due to lack of probable cause.
He said witness Roger Loredo’s statements implicating Labao were all hearsay and would not be accepted by the court.
“The statements came from a polluted source,” Patricio added.
Loredo is a police character facing a string of criminal cases. He is currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Pototan, Iloilo.
Patricio said his client is being subjected to trial by publicity.
Lawyer Myra Yngcong, another Labao defense lawyer, said her client does not know who Loredo is.
Yesterday’s press conference of Labao’s lawyers was held at the Kapis Mansyon Hotel here.
The lawyers said Labao attended a “peace covenant forum” in Mambusao in connection with the elections and could not be at the press conference.
The Department of Justice has reopened its investigation on the May 4, 2012 murder of Martinez after Loredo came forward and claimed his participation in the killing. He also identified Labao as the mastermind.
Martinez, 79, a community doctor, was on his third term as vice mayor when he was assassinated.
He had signified his intention to run for mayor of Mambusao and would have been pitted against Labao.
In previous interviews, Labao had denied having anything to do with Martinez’s assassination. He even pledged to add P100,000 to the P800,000 cash reward being offered to whoever could give information leading to the identification and arrest of Martinez’s killers.
Martinez was shot to death outside his house in Brgy. Poblacion Proper, Mambusao, about 45 kilometers southeast of this city.
Around 6 a.m., the assailant shot him thrice on the head and twice on the body.
The gunman then casually walked toward a waiting companion with a motorcycle parked some 100 meters away from Martinez’s house, a witness said.
