Sunday, January 08, 2006
Judge ordered: Stop hearing NBI strafing case
The Sandiganbayan has put a stop to the ongoing hearings on the multiple murder case earlier filed against agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the botched 2002 operation that injured some off-duty resort employees.
It ordered Mandaue City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Augustine Vestil to stop further hearing or acting on the proceedings.
The order was in response to the petition for certiorari filed by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas against a ruling that Vestil earlier issued.
Vestil, on the other hand, has been given 10 days to respond to the petition now pending before the Second Division of the Sandiganbayan.
The anti-graft office said Vestil disallowed them from presenting evidence against the NBI agents.
Over three years have lapsed since the bloody shooting that injured five people: Michael Monsod, Nenette Castillon, Gian Carlo Cajoles, Esther Luz, Mae Gregorio, Donato Enabe and Alfie Fernandez. Monsod and Cajoles suffered near-fatal injuries.
However, the prosecution of the criminal case against NBI agents Angelito Magno, Arnel Pura, Danilo Garay, Rey Tumalon and Teodoro Saavedra and civilian assets Eric Ayag, Joey Cal, Rick Cruz, Noe Dimaunahan, Paul Lauro, Allan Magallon, David Pantano and Carlos “Boy” Soon has not gone beyond the prosecution’s presentation of evidence and witnesses.
Shot at
The agents shot at a van ferrying the victims home after receiving information that suspected drug dealer Roberto “Obet” Hegremosa was inside.
Ombudsman prosecutors, led by Estela Alma Singco, presented Fernandez, sports supervisor of Plantation Bay resort, last April 12, 2005, but his testimony was not fully entered into the records.
While he testified how the NBI agents strafed their van last Dec. 13, 2002, mistaking it for Hegremosa’s van, and shot at them while they cruised along A.S. Fortuna St., Vestil, on motion of the NBI agents, said the testimony was not fully admissible because A.S. Fortuna St. traverses between Mandaue City and Cebu City.
He ruled that as a judge of the RTC in Mandaue City, he can pass judgment only on crimes that happen inside his jurisdiction.
Also, he pointed out, the case information endorsed by the anti-graft office specified the place of incident as Barangay Looc.
The anti-graft office cried foul and filed a motion for reconsideration that Vestil also denied, hence the filing of the petition before the Sandiganbayan.
In their motion and subsequent petition, the anti-graft office cited the importance of the witness’ testimony, including his narration on the exact areas where the shooting occurred.
It said A.S. Fortuna St. is already covered in the information sheet, which stated that the acts were committed “in the city of Mandaue.”
“Judicial notice may be taken of the fact that if one cruises, he must stop somewhere. In this case, from ‘cruising along Looc, Mandaue City,’ the victims eventually stopped at A.S. Fortuna St., still located in Mandaue City,” the memorandum read.
“Information can withstand the test of judicial scrutiny as long as it distinctly states the statutory designation of the offense and the acts or omissions constitutive thereof,” the memorandum, prepared by then ombudsman prosecutor now RTC Judge Macaundas Hadjirasul, and prosecutors Samuel Malazarte and Venerando Santiago, also said. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 8, 2006 issue)
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