Wala daw ebidensya: CA clears Palawan ex-gov Joel Reyes in Gerry Ortega slay

Former Palawan governor Joel Reyes has been freed from detention after the Court of Appeals (CA) cleared him for over the murder of broadcaster Dr. Gerry Ortega in 2011.

His legal counsel, lawyer Demetrio Custodio, said Reyes was released Friday afternoon.

Custodio said Reyes was released after the CA issued a ruling which overturned the finding of the Puerto Princesa regional trial court (RTC) that there exists probable cause to indict the former governor.

The lawyer said the CA ruled that the “RTC finding probable cause is wrong.”

“No evidence to justify the findings of probable cause, there is no basis for such findings, no basis to continue with the case. Hence, the RTC is barred to proceed with the case,” he explained.

Ortega was killed by a hired gunman in January 2011 and Reyes and his brother, former Coron mayor Mario Reyes, have been tagged as the masterminds.

After slipping out of the country in 2012 to evade arrest warrants against them, the former governor and his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, were arrested in Phuket, Thailand in October 2015.