​THE Supreme Court has acquitted a man previously convicted of killing Dutch aid worker Wilhelmus Johannes Joseph Geertman in 2012, citing inconsistent and unreliable testimonies from prosecution witnesses.

​In a ruling dated May 7, 2025, the Court's Third Division reversed the conviction of Marvin Nuguid and ordered his immediate release.

Suspect in 2012 killing of Dutch aid worker freed

​Geertman, then-executive director of the nongovernment organization Alay Bayan, Inc., was gunned down inside his office in San Fernando, Pampanga, by two assailants who fled on a motorcycle.

​Nuguid was later convicted by a Pampanga court for his alleged role in the killing, a decision later affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

​Nuguid denied involvement, insisting he was with his common-law wife at their junk shop when the shooting happened. He also challenged the credibility of the prosecution witnesses, whose testimonies the Supreme Court found to contain “several glaring inconsistencies.”

Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao, who penned the decision, said the contradictions went beyond minor lapses, undermining the witnesses' ability to identify the shooter. “It is highly doubtful that the prosecution was able to pinpoint Nuguid as the assailant,” the Court ruled.

​The justices also noted that the testimonies were the prosecution’s sole evidence and that no legitimate or compelling proof linked Nuguid to the crime.

Given the weakness of the prosecution's case, the Court said Nuguid's denial and alibi carried greater weight.

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​Geertman's death drew widespread condemnation in 2012, with human rights and civic groups calling for justice. Some human rights defenders suspected his killing was politically motivated due to his environmental activism.