THE Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Tuesday sentenced Jason Ivler, nephew of composer-musician Freddie Aguilar, to suffer life imprisonment for the murder of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. during a traffic altercation six years ago.
Branch 84 Judge Luisito Cortez, in a 72-page decision, also directed Ivler to indemnify the victim’s heirs P9,124,164 as payment for the loss of earning capacity, P143,890 in burial expenses, P75,000 in moral damages and P30,000 in exemplary damages, for a total of P9,373,054.
“Wherefore, in the light of the foregoing considerations, the Court renders judgment as follows: 1. Finds accused Jason Ivler y Aguilar guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder and hereby sentence him to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment of reclusion perpetua. His period of preventive detention since Jan. 27, 2010 shall be credited in his favor,” the order read.
Aguilar accompanied Ivler inside the courtroom.
Ivler, 33, however, maintained his innocence, denying he wasn’t the one who killed Ebarle, the son of Palace undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr.
He told reporters that he would file an appeal.
Cortez is the third judge to handle the trial since Ivler’s arrest in a shootout with the National Bureau of Investigation agents inside his home in Blue Ridge A Subdivision in January 2010.
On Nov. 18, 2009, Ivler was accused of killing Ebarle Jr. in a traffic altercation along Santolan Avenue.
“After painstaking review and evaluation of the voluminous records containing the testimonial and documentary evidence proffered by both the Prosecution and the Defense, the Court finds the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of murder,” Cortez said.
“I asked him what really happened then. We will give our best [to help him] until we have given our best effort,” he said.
“Yes, I talked to him. We talked seriously. He told me he was not the one who killed (Ebarle) when I recently visited him at Camp Bagong Diwa (Taguig City), and of course, I believe him. I cannot really forget when he told me that he would rather want to die so that the family could stay away from the issue. Awhile ago, he said sorry to me, and I told him you don’t have to do so,” he told The Standard.
Marlene Aguilar Pollard, Ivler’s mother and Aguilar’s sister, was not around when Cortez handed the verdict on Ivler.
“You all know that she and I are not on a speaking term. She does not listen to me at all. I know it is too painful for her to know about the conviction of her son. I am just the uncle, but I am deeply hurt, what more of her mother,” Aguilar told reporters.
Ivler is the eldest son of Marlene with Robert Ivler, who was found dead seated on a chair at a hotel in Bangkok.
He finished Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the Hawaii Pacific University, and became a member of the US Army on Jan. 15, 2007, but was discharged on Oct. 16, 2008.
Martin Diño, national chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said they would stay vigilant to monitor Ivler inside the National Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City “if he is given a special treatment there.”