Not only did the Supreme Court (SC) deny the appeal of convicted murderer Jason Ivler, it also increased to P9.97 million the amount that he had to pay the family of his victim—10 times the liability imposed by the Court of Appeals (CA).

In a recent 2-page minute resolution, the SC 2nd Division imposed an additional obligation for Ivler to compensate for the loss of earning capacity of his victim Renato Ebarle, Jr., to the tune of P9.12 million.

This was on top of P616,590 in actual damages arising from burial expenses, P75,000 in moral damages, P75,000 in exemplary damages, and P75,000 in civil indemnity.

The decisions of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 84 and the CA dated November 24, 2015 and November 28, 2017 did not actually account for the loss of Ebarle, Jr.’s earning capacity. This is why the liabilities imposed by the lower courts were lower at P248,890 and P916,590.

The SC said compensation for loss of earning capacity was proper “in light of prevailing jurisprudence,” particularly the 2016 case of People v. Jugueta.

On top of this, the SC ordered Ivler to pay the costs of suit. The amounts would earn a legal interest of 6% from the date of the finality of his conviction.

The minute resolution did not revisit the merits of Ivler’s conviction anymore.

This was because of his “failure to sufficiently show that the [CA] committed any reversible error… as to warrant the exercise of the Court’s appellate jurisdiction,” read the minute resolution signed by Deputy Division Clerk of Court Teresita Aquino Tuazon.

Ivler was sentenced to up to 40 years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of shooting Ebarle, Jr., while the latter waited out the red light at Santolan Road around 11 in the evening of November 18, 2009.

The victim is the son of now-Labor Undersecretary Renato Ebarle, who at the time was an undersecretary working for the Office of the Presidential Chief of Staff.

Ivler claimed he was at the birthday party of a friend in Makati City at the time, but the lower courts did not believe the alibi. He went into hiding at the house of his mother, singer Marlene Aguilar, where he was arrested on January 18, 2010.