“Probably the toughest time in anyone’s life is when you have to murder a
loved one because they’re the devil.” EMO PHILIPS
By Alex P. Vidal
Ilonggos were still talking about the 4-1 win of Detroit Pistons against
Portland Trailblazers in the 1990 NBA finals when interrupted by news of the
murder of Jimmy de la Torre, then the country’s marathon king, inside a movie
house in Iloilo City on June 27, 1990.
The Pistons versus Trailblazers best-of-seven series, by the way, was the
first NBA finals since 1979 not to involve either the perennial finalists, Los
Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics.
Jimmy’s murder in the balcony of Crown Cinerama (now Philippine National Bank) on corner
Ledesma-Quezon Streets, occurred at around past one o’clock in the afternoon, a
rainy Tuesday.
I witnessed it.
I was seated five seats away from Jimmy, 27, and his wife Celia, 26. Some
20 minutes earlier, I bumped into Jimmy, the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games
marathon record holder, and Celia in the ground floor while on their way to the
theater’s second floor.
GREET
We greeted each other briefly. It was our first meeting since I covered the
Bombo Marathon in Pavia, Iloilo several months earlier. I was standing at the
finish line when Jimmy breasted the tape, beating arch rival and fellow Ilonggo
champion, Herman Suizo, by the skin of the teeth.
Jimmy was from Pototan, Iloilo while Suizo hailed from Sta. Barbara,
Iloilo. They dominated marathon in the country the way Attila the Hun ruled the
Hunnic Empire and the Balkans.
“Jimmy, you broke the record (in the 20-K event),” I told him after the
race. “Ha, na break ko? (oh yeah?),” he replied happily. “Ay salamat (thank
you).”
Jimmy was the first back-to-back Filipino champion (1981-1982) of the
lung-busting 42.195-K National Milo Marathon. He also held the record of 2 hours,
25 minutes, and 16 seconds (Cresenciano Sabal currently holds the record at
2:21:33 he registered in the 29th edition in 2005), the fastest in the country
and in the SEAG at that time.
Future SEA Games gold medalist Suizo avenged the defeat at the Yakult
Marathon, where I was one of the participants. I finished by the wayside–good
for a certificate!
INSIDE
Inside the theater that fateful afternoon, I went up ahead of Jimmy and
Celia. Only a handful of patrons were inside when I entered the balcony. We
were watching a cartoon film. I occupied a seat in the middle row and noticed
several vacancies on my left and right. I was seated a spit away from where the
main lights that transmitted the film to the big screen were coming from.
Minutes later, I saw the couple occupy their seats on my left. They didn’t
notice me. I reclined and closed my eyes. I checked the surroundings from time
to time.
Some five to 10 minutes later, I saw Celia leave her seat and go outside.
Jimmy stayed.
Celia returned after about five minutes. Some 10 minutes later, a lone
gunshot exploded followed by a loud scream by a woman.
When I checked, I saw a fat guy throw a hard object on the floor and
hurriedly walk to my right, passing at the back where I was seated, before going
downstairs, mixing with fleeing moviegoers and exiting through the main door.
As pandemonium broke loose, the lights switched on suddenly. I quickly
grabbed my manual pocket camera and approached a man on the chair twitching in
pain and shaking, blood oozing from his temple.
FRONT
I positioned myself in front of the victim and saw his eyes roll as if
begging to save him. By the time I fired the first of my series of shots, I
already realized the victim was Jimmy de la Torre.
I couldn’t do anything to save a dying man as I was shocked and on the
verge of tears myself. Jimmy was a pitiful sight. I couldn’t bear watching a
sports hero, whose exploits I had covered as sportswriter on several occasions,
gunned down in a treacherous manner, a senseless murder.
My instinct as a cub reporter persuaded me not to leave the place until the
smoke has been cleared, thus I observed the wife’s demeanor.
Budyong TV Patrol broadcasters Ibrahim Calanao and Ranie Jangayo arrived
and interviewed me “live”. They then interviewed Celia, who was crying but
didn’t do something–or at least embrace her husband–or plead to about four
people present to bring Jimmy to the hospital.
When Metropolitan Police District Command (Metrodiscom) chief, Col. Achilles
Plagata, a future city councilor, and his team of investigators arrived, Celia
became more hysterical. They recovered a .38 “paltik” revolver on the floor
used in the killing.
PHOTO
I gave an exclusive photo of Jimmy, taken while he was gasping for his last
breath, to then Visayan Tribune editor-in-chief, Herbert Vego, and it made a
headline story.
It was my second eye-witness-account exclusive crime photo. Five months
earlier during the 1990 Dinagyang Festival in downtown, City Proper, I was “lucky”
to be “at the right place at the right time” when an off-duty cop from Arevalo
district was peppered with bullets while drinking in a sidewalk in the corner
of Ledesma and Valeria Streets.
Murder charges had been filed against the suspect in Jimmy’s murder, but
were dismissed by then city prosecutor Efrain Baldago for “lack of evidence”.
Some people closed to Jimmy, as well as some family members, believed the
marathon king, who made waves in the Boston Marathon and made many Filipinos
proud of him, was a victim of a love triangle.
This theory has not been proven and his unsolved murder remains a mystery
after 24 years.
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