The Sandiganbayan has handed down a rare homicide conviction against Reynolan Sales, a former mayor of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, for the killing of his political rival, former Mayor Rafael Benemerito, in 1999.

In a 45-page decision dated July 6, 2018 the court’s Fourth Division sentenced Sales to imprisonment of 12 years up to 17 years and four months for one count of homicide.

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Former police chief Celso Ragudo and police officers Alfonso Cariaga and William Quiamas, who were charged as accomplices, were each meted out prison terms of four years and two months to eight years.

All four defendants were ordered to pay a total of P199,099.05 in damages, with Sales shouldering half this liability.

Sales “admitted” that he shot Benemerito several times on Aug. 2, 1999, following a heated altercation that ensued after confronting the latter over complaints of illegal quarrying activities in his property.

The then-incumbent mayor claimed to have acted in self-defense, but the court found “no clear and convincing evidence” to support this claim.

According to records, Benemerito gave chase after Sales personally seized his payloader.

His widow Thelma testified that 300 meters away from the property, she saw Sales alighting from the payloader and shooting Benemerito several times.

Thelma said that as her husband limped out of the car, she begged Sales to stop shooting, but the latter kept on firing the gun and even threatened her.

Sales claimed he was forced to shoot Benemerito after the latter fired at him and his personnel.

But the court pointed out that Sales was not even grazed by a single bullet, despite his claim that Benemerito shot continuously from a close range.

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In contrast to Sales’s “minimal injury,” the victim sustained four gunshot wounds.

“It appears from the physical evidence, as demonstrated by the location of the wounds, that accused Sales was the aggressor and not Atty. Benemerito,” read the decision.

The court also found unbelievable Sales’s claim that he tried to avoid Benemerito’s shots by jumping off the payloader and running towards a tree just 3 meters away from the victim.

“Running towards the tree would place accused Sales in the line of fire because he would have to come across Atty. Benemerito… and yet, he chose that spot to take cover,” the decision read.

“It is uncommon for a person to run towards an assailant, even more so to place himself in peril. Consequently, their logic-defying claims negate the reliability of their statements,” it added.

The court said the “falsity” in his statements was also established by the inconsistencies with the testimony of defense witness Merly Bacud, who took over the driving of the payloader seized from Benemerito.

For one, Sales said Benemerito fired four or five shots at him, but Bacud said there were only two or three initial shots. Bacud said Sales fired his gun once, but Sales admitted to having hit Benemerito twice.

Bacud also initially claimed Sales was unarmed only to retract it later. Sales actually admitted that he always carried his pistol.

The court noted Bacud remembered the details “only when convenient and favorable to accused Sales.”

The decision was penned by Associate Justice Reynaldo P. Cruz and concurred in by Associate Justices Alex L. Quiroz and Bayani H. Jacinto. /atm

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