The Court of Appeals has sustained the conviction of Jason Ivler for killing the son of former presidential chief-of-staff Undersecretary Renato Ebarle Sr. during a road rage incident in 2009.
In a 32-page decision penned by Associate Justice Ramon Cruz, the CA’s 14th Division dismissed the petition filed by Ivler seeking to overturn the verdict of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court in 2015 that found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to suffer 30 years imprisonment.
The appellate court upheld the findings of the Quezon City RTC, Branch 84, that the killing of Renato Ebarle Jr. by Ivler, nephew of popular folk singer Freddie Aguilar, was attended by treachery, an element of the crime of murder.
“Renato Ebarle Jr. was totally unaware that he would be treacherously shot in the comfort of his own car while waiting for the stoplight before him to turn green. He was unarmed and was not given any opportunity to defend himself or to escape from the deadly assault,” the CA decision stated.
“The deadly successive shots of the accused-appellant deprived the helpless victim of any opportunity to put up a decent defense. The attack was executed by the accused appellant so viciously that a defense was virtually impossible,” it said.
The appellate court turned down the defense of Ivler, who has been serving his sentence in the New Bilibid Prison, that he could not be convicted for murder since the incident involved an altercation between him and the victim.
“Clearly the supposed altercation between the victim and the accused-appellant immediately before the shooting did not necessarily negate the presence of treachery,” the CA said.
The appellate court also rejected the arguments of Ivler that he was not identified by any witness as the killer.
“When Ivler’s alibi is juxtaposed with the testimonies of the prosecution eyewitnesses positively identifying him as the shooter, his defense of alibi must necessarily fail, especially when no ill motive on the part of the eyewitnesses was shown that could have made them falsely implicate Ivler in such a serious crime,” the CA said.
Apart from affirming the verdict on Ivler, the CA also held that the RTC was correct in setting the indemnities at P9 million.
However, it modified the damages awarded by the RTC to Ebarle’s family by over P500,000.
It increased the actual damages from P143,890 to P616,590; the moral damages from P75,000 to P100,000; and the exemplary damages from P30,000 to P100,000, and also set the civil indemnity to P100,000.
The appellate court also directed all awards for damages to earn an interest of six percent per year from the time of finality of the decision until fully paid.
Associate Justices Ricardo Rosario and Pablito Perez concurred in this ruling.
The incident took place on November 18, 2008 in Santolan, Quezon City where Ivler shot Ebarle in the chest and both arms which caused his immediate death.
Ivler had went into hiding until she was arrested inside the house of her mother, Marlene Aguilar.