In a press statement on Saturday, NUJP cited law enforcers’ “failure” to capture the two suspects in the killing.
“Since this tragic event, the accused masterminds – former Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes and his brother Marjo – have remained in hiding and the wheels of justice grind painstakingly slow,” it said.
“On the hunt for the Reyes brothers, the government’s early promises to get them have degenerated from rhetoric to amnesia. There is, in fact, no sign a manhunt is even taking place, insofar as the family and relatives of the victim are concerned,” it added.
On January 24, 2011, a lone assailant gunned down Ortega in Puerto Princesa City after his radio program. The gunman was arrested immediately after the attack.
Ortega, 47, was the morning news anchor and commentator of Radyo Mo Nationwide’s (RMN)’s Palawan station dwAR.
On the other hand, NUJP called on the government, particularly the Department of Jusice, to take action on the murder case trial.
“The case is pending in the Supreme Court, after the Court of Appeals curiously upheld the defense’s claim that the creation of a second panel by the DOJ, which indicted the Reyes brothers and their accomplices, was illegal,” it said.
“A credible and simple recourse offered by the Ortega family is for Secretary Leila de Lima to resolve the petition for review that they filed after the first DOJ panel dismissed the complaint,” it added.
However, the group said the DOJ has not budged on the issue, “allowing the murder trial to proceed under the ominous possibility the brains might be let off the hook without even facing the evidence of their guilt.” — Amanda Fernandez/LBG, GMA News
