‘Pirates’ retain former Bacolod dad as lawyer
By Jaime Espina
Correspondent

BACOLOD CITY—A former Bacolod City councilor leads the legal team that has been retained to defend the five men from Masbate, who were charged with piracy in Cadiz City.
       The five were overpowered and captured by the crew of a fishing boat they had allegedly targeted last week.
       Lawyer Joe Max Ortiz confirmed that his services have been sought by Diosdado Briones, the Masbate broadcaster who claims to be the head of that province’s tri-media club as well as the Bantay Dagat in that province.
       However, Ortiz stressed, “while I am assisting them at the moment, I am not yet officially their lawyer.”
       Ortiz added that the filing of countercharges for murder, frustrated murder and abduction by Briones in Masbate against the crew of the F/B Cadiz City and boat owner Steven Be would be handled by different lawyers.
       Charged before the Cadiz City Regional Trial Court are Allan Sun, Douglas Gerasta, Diosdado Ado, Ronald Gabriel and Danilo Mercader. Sun and Gerasta are broadcasters who Briones said were inactive correspondents of the blocktime program he hosts over DYME in Masbate.
       Also seized from them were an M-16 carbine and a KG-9 submachine- gun.
       The M-16, with serial number RP103833, has been traced to a soldier in Masbate City, Be’s lawyer said.
       Although piracy charges are nonbailable, Ortiz indicated that the prosecution’s evidence was not strong enough to prevent his filing a petition for bail.
       The five suspects were allegedly part of a heavily armed 12-man gang that boarded the F/B Cadiz City in open seas off Islas de Higantes in Carles, Iloilo but were overpowered by the fishing boat’s crew.
       But Briones claimed the suspects were part of a legitimate Bantay Dagat patrol and had boarded the Cadiz City for allegedly entering Masbate’s territorial waters in violation of fishing laws. He also claimed two members of the team—Jojo Avila and Alex Rovero—were killed and another, Dodoy Fuentes, was seriously wounded in the incident.
       However, the account Ortiz said he got from the five suspects was that the incident was the result of a “miscommunication.”
       He also said that the five acknowledged they had gone off course, meaning they may have no longer been within Masbate waters, because of rough seas and were seeking help after running out of fuel.
       However, while they were approaching the F/B Cadiz City for assistance, the crew, apparently thinking they were pirates, “opened fire on them while they were still in their pump boat.”
       Ortiz said the volley killed Avila and Rovero immediately.
       The five detained suspects jumped into the sea and were left behind by their fleeing companions, Ortiz said, and were later picked up by the Cadiz City.
       This, he said, was the reason why most of the five were only in their underwear when turned over to Cadiz police and why the Cadiz City crew recovered only one wallet.
       However, Briones, in earlier interviews, quoted Fuentes as saying that they were jumped by the Cadiz City crew and shot after they boarded the fishing boat. Some of the detained suspects also told the local media the same story after they were taken to Cadiz City.
       Ortiz also contended that only the fishing boat crew was armed.
       However, aside from confirmation that the seized M-16 was issued to a soldier, earlier, the five suspects also told media that the weapons belonged to three policemen who, with three police assets, they said were with them during the incident.