Eighty-four years ago at around January 21-27, the most sensational murder trial in early twentieth-century Cebu reached a surprising end with the acquittal by the Supreme Court on January 22, 1917 of the prime suspects because the Constabulary apparently tampered with witness testimonies. Elias Reyes, Isidro Jureidini, and two others were accused of killing Natividad Garcia and her alleged lover Ramon Santiago. The discovery of the bodies of the ill-fated lovers in the morning of March 22, 1915 near the then-remote Fuente Osmeña Park shattered the otherwise quiet and laid-back air of Cebu City.

The brutality of the murders (their bodies were blooded; Ramon’s face was battered) shocked ordinary Cebuanos, many of whom faithfully attended the case as it went to trial during the ensuing two years. This was by no means an ordinary crime. For Nati, as she was called, was very much a married woman whose husband, Carlos Reyes, was in Manila at the time of the murder. Moreover the prosecution faced not the usual suspects: Reyes owned Bazar Filipinas, while Jureidini, a Turko under the protection of the German Consul, owned one of the largest stores in the city, the Bazar Rizal. Capping it all was the array of defense lawyers led by Mariano Cuenco, Celestino Rodriguez and Vicente Pelaez. After Reyes and company’s acquittal, no other suspects were brought to court for this crime.

- Ybarra