By Ferdinand Fabella

TWO days before his 69th birthday, former Batangas Gov. Jose Antonio Leviste was sentenced to between six and 12 years in prison for shooting to death his long-time aide and business associate in 2007.

The Makati Regional Trial Court downgraded Leviste?s case from murder to homicide, citing the prosecution?s failure to prove that treachery and other qualifying circumstances had attended the killing.

Judge Elmo Alameda of RTC Branch 150 also ordered Leviste to pay the family of Rafael de las Alas P100,000 in moral and civil damages.

He also canceled Leviste?s bail and had him sent to the Makati City Jail immediately pending his transfer to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.

?The court has judged it the way it sees it. But my conscience is clear and I am innocent. It behooves me, therefore, to file an appeal and get complete vindication for the sake of my family,? Leviste said in a prepared statement.

?I have nothing more to say. I leave my fate to God,? he added.

Leviste, estranged husband of Senator Loren Legarda, was charged with killing De las Alas in his private office at LPL Towers in Legaspi Village in Makati on Jan. 12, 2007.

The shooting was precipitated by De las Alas? alleged insistence that he be given P1 million to finance a mistress. Leviste, claiming self-defense, insisted that it was the victim who tried to draw his .9mm pistol while they were arguing.

While the court clerk read the verdict, Leviste stood still, his face impassive. As he was led out of the courtroom by policemen, he blurted out: ?As the Bible says, my message to the prosecutors is forgive those who persecute you and pray for them... And I will do that.?

Leviste?s daughter Toni told reporters they were still hoping that the Court of Appeals would allow her father to post bail.

?We were hoping that today my dad would be able to clear his name and we can all move on from here,? she said.

?It?s been very hard for our family and it continues to be. Everybody has a cross to bear, and this is ours,?

Dinna de las Alas, a daughter of the victim, thanked the press for focusing public attention on the case.

?As long as he?s sent to jail, that?s all right by us, ?she said in Filipino. ?At least we were able to get justice for my father?s death.?

Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, the head of the prosecution panel, welcomed the decision despite the downgrading of the murder charge.

?I told Governor Leviste that this is nothing personal. If he was the one who got killed, we would also work hard to bring justice to his family,?said Velasco, who had several run-ins with the Leviste family over the course of the two-year trial.

While the judge dismissed the prosecution assertion of premeditation, he also rejected Leviste?s claim of self-defense.

Alameda said Leviste?s claim that the victim was the aggressor ?deserves disbelief.?If De las Alas had been bent on a shootout, he would have entered Leviste?s office with the safety of his gun switched off, the judge said. But the evidence showed the safety was on.

He also said Leviste?s refusal to subject himself to a paraffin test negated his claim of self-defense.

?The natural tendency of the person claiming self-defense is to allow himself to be investigated by the police and spontaneously give his version of self-defense. This he failed to do,? Alameda said.

Based on the nature of the five gunshot wounds he inflicted on the victim, Leviste was bent on killing De las Alas, he said.

?Had the accused merely defended himself as he claimed from the alleged unlawful aggression of the victim, one shot would have been enough to immobilize the victim. There was no longer any reason for the accused to shoot him four more times, even aiming at the head,? the judge said. With Mary Grace Isorena