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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Fiscal cries foul over judge’s ‘haste’ comment
By Karlon N. Rama
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor took exception to a portion of a trial court ruling that chided it for undue haste in the filing of the criminal case against the Laputan brothers.
“With all due respect, the pronouncement of the Honorable Court putting the blame on this office is not supported by facts,” Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba wrote in a six-page manifestation filed before the 14th branch of Regional Trial Court (RTC) yesterday.
She also said the office could not be blamed for the prolonged stay of the Laputan brothers in jail. The Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor filed a motion for the dismissal of the case against the two as early as Jan. 3, 2006.
Petralba said the case was filed simply because the Carcar police’s Sept. 12, 2005 complaint against the two—Concordio and Maximo Laputan—came with the four-page affidavit of Ronnie Tabora that charged them with the rape and murder of 13-year-old Mylen, Maximo’s daughter.
Tabora, after a separate preliminary investigation, is now charged with the rape and killing.
“Inquest being summary in nature, the inquest prosecutor recommended the filing of the information upon finding probable cause form the evidence available at that time. The undersigned reviewed and approved the information based on the evidence available,” Petralba said.
She also said the information available to the trial court when it resolved to dismiss the case against the Laputans was not available to the Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor at that time.
“The filing of this case on the part of the prosecution should not have been done with undue haste but should have been done with studied circumspection on the rights of both accused,” Judge Raphael Yrastorza had said in dismissing the case and ordering the two indemnified of P10,000 each.
“The prosecution should have saved both accused from the inconvenience of imprisonment and its corresponding effects—loss of income, separation from their respective family members, not to mention the right to grieve over their beloved dead,” he said.
The Laputans are still being denied this right, though.
Despite their acquittal, the Laputan brothers will still stay inside the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) because of a direct assault case filed by the Carcar police.
The direct assault case was filed after Concordio allegedly tried to stab SPO1 Meliton Agadier Jr., who together with PO3 Rolando Gantuangco and PO3 Irving Avila, went to Concordio’s house and question them over the information given by “eyewitness” Tabora.
Maximo, for his part, allegedly wrestled with Agadier who was able to elude Corcordio’s attack
Carcar Police Station Chief Teofilo Siclot has expressed his intent to pursue the direct assault charge.
“It’s a separate case. It’s a separate incident,” he said. The case will be heard today at the Carcar Municipal Trial Court.
Petralba said the court needs to look elsewhere if it wants an entity blamed for the Laputan brothers’ prolonged stay in jail.
Petralba said it was the court that “did not immediately act on our motion to dismiss filed on Jan. 3, 2006.”
“It instead ordered for a hearing of Feb. 6, 2006, or more than one month after, for the reception of evidence to support our motion. Ronnie Tabora was himself presented on that date,” she wrote.
“The court set another date, Feb. 16, 2006, for the presentation of more witness. On said date, the prosecution presented four witnesses and, again, moved for the dismissal of the case after the presentation of all evidence including the result of the DNA test, which found negative for the Laputan brothers. The honorable did not grant our motion,” she added.
Then, the court required the DNA forensic analyst, Senior Insp. Edmar de la Torre, who is based inside Camp Crame, to come to Cebu to corroborate his findings, she said.
De la Torre took the witness stand last March 13 “solely corroborate his (written) findings,” Petralba said.
The judgment on the motion to dismiss came out last Monday.
Petralba explained that the move to charge Tabora with the crime and move for the dismissal of the one against the Laputan brothers even came partly at the initiative of the office.
It stemmed from a case conference that she’d called for, although coursed through the Commission on Human Rights.
“After the case against the Laputan brothers was filed, the Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor then gathered more evidence consisting of a bag of then witness Ronnie Tabora which contained incriminating evidence,” she said. (With Katrina N. Tabanao, correspondent)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 21, 2006 issue)
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