CA okays arrest warrant vs ex-Vice Gov

Batangas City – The Court of Appeals Special Sixth Division has upheld on July 13 the warrant of arrest issued by the Batangas Regional Trial Court against former Vice Governor Ricky Recto.

     Recto was accused of masterminding the June 1, 2006 assassination attempt against then Gov. Armando Sanchez at the provincial capitol, which killed Sanchez’s bodyguard P02 Lucito Icaro and bodyguard Eric Landicho.

     Sanchez earlier died of brain hemmhorage and multiple organ failure on April 27, while campaigning for governor in the May 2010 elections.

     In a 12-page decision, CA Associate Justice Army Lazaro – Javier, rejected Recto’s claim that there was no probable cause to order his arrest on allegations that he plotted the bombing of Sanchez’s vehicle.
     “There is no doubt that a crime was committed. Two were dead and Governor Sanchez was wounded.    
     The latter’s car also exploded. On their face, the statements (of the witnesses) establish that Recto was involved in the assassination plot against Sanchez,” the appellate court said.

     Last year, the Department of Justice has charged Recto with frustrated murder and double murder for allegedly masterminding the slay attempt against Sanchez.

      Also charged were lawyer Christopher Belmonte, nephew of former Quezon City Mayor and now Rep. Feliciano Belmonte, Christina Antonio, niece of newly-elected Agbiag Timpuyog Ilocano, Inc. party-list Rep. Patricio Antonio, and Bettina Balderama.

     Sanchez’s camp has earlier offered a P1 million reward for Recto’s arrest and P500,000 each for Belmonte, Antonio, and Balderama.
     Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said the rewards remain notwithstanding Sanchez’s death.
     He also quoted Sanchez’s wife former Sto. Tomas Mayor Edna Sanchez as saying, “Now I know that (my late husband) Arman can rest peacefully, knowing that the killers will be brought before the bar of justice.”
      Ricky, brother-in law of Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto, earlier denied the allegations saying they were hearsays and a form of “political harrassment” on Sanchez’s part.
     “I’m not a criminal. Sanchez is a criminal,” said Recto, who has filed a corruption case on the Ombudsman against Sanchez and other officials over the anomalous P350 million computerization project at the provincial capitol. (Marlon Alexander Luistro )