Sunday, August 17, 2008 Brothers in rape case freed By Jujemay G. Awit Sun.Star Staff Reporter
TWO cases and more than two years of detention later, the Laputan brothers are finally free.
Concordio, 49, and Maximo, 43, had their last glimpse of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) past 2 p.m. yesterday, during a visit by the Justice on Wheels program.
Concordio and Maximo had been accused of raping and then killing Maximo’s 13-year-old daughter Maylen in Carcar City on Sept. 6, 2005.
Their nephew, Ronnie Tabora, implicated them.
While the Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed the rape with homicide case against the brothers in 2006, they stayed in jail because of a separate case of direct assault upon an agent or a person in authority.
The case was filed by the Carcar Police Station, particularly by SPO1 Meliton Agadier, who testified that the Laputans attacked him.
While investigating the rape incident on Sept. 10, 2005, Agadier said, he invited the two brothers to the police station for questioning.
Concordio allegedly took out his kitchen knife and stabbed the police officer instead.
The Municipal Trial Court of Carcar found the brothers guilty of the charge and sentenced them to a minimum of six months and a maximum of four years in jail.
Last March, the Laputan brothers were supposed to be shipped to the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa, but Byron Garcia, the Capitol’s consultant on security and jail matters, intervened.
Byron said the inmates have their own “justice system” inside the jail, and the Laputans were found innocent, which he also believed.
After the lower court decision was appealed before the RTC, Presiding Judge Sylva Aguirre-Paderanga reversed the ruling on the direct assault charge.
Paderanga ruled that the attempt to arrest the Laputans was irregular since there was no warrant against them yet.
“The police officers hastily arrested them; hence, as a consequence, by human instinct, the accused could have done acts for their self-preservation and survival,” read her decision.
‘Natural’
“This court opines and so holds that the acts of the two accused, which could be regarded as or would be tantamount to resisting arrest, are but the natural and logical consequence of the invalid and irregular arrest made on them by the concerned arresting officers,” it added.
The ruling paved the way for the brothers’ freedom. Earlier, RTC Judge Raphael Yrastorza found them innocent of the rape with homicide charge in June 2006.
Yrastorza even chastised the Provincial Attorney’s Office for hastily filing the case, because the Laputan brothers could have been spared jail time.
Tabora, the supposed state witness, was later charged with the rape and death of Maylen.
Minutes before they left the jail facility, excitement was visible on the brothers’ faces.
Concordio wore a faded green polo shirt tucked in torn jeans, and a pair of black Converse sneakers.
Younger brother Maximo had on a similar pair of shoes, an orange shirt and checkered shorts.
The shoes were a gift from Garcia to the provincial inmates last Christmas.
Home-bound
Before their release orders were signed, Concordio and Maximo, still in their CPDRC uniforms, hugged Garcia.
“Salamat (thank you),” was all they both said, tears welling in their eyes.
Maximo showed Sun.Star Cebu a small bag made from recycled foil packs that he handcrafted himself while inside the jail. It will be his “pasalubong” for his youngest child, a 10-year-old daughter, he said.
Other than that, his black Pinoy Big Brother bag only has one set of clothes and a jacket.
Concordio also had meager belongings, his clothing and a pack of bath soap wrapped in a white plastic bag.
“Mo-bisita man unta akong asawa ugma, wala pa gyud to kahibalo nga mouli na ko, [My wife was scheduled to visit me today, and does not know yet that I am going home],” Concordio said.
Byron gave them P500 each as his farewell gift.
The Laputans actually have their own savings of P1,000 each. Each CPDRC inmate maintains an account at the Cebu CFI Cooperative, where money from donations and sale of CPDRC-made products are kept.
Hope
Maximo said the first thing he wants to do is visit Maylen’s grave. He was not able to attend her burial because he was already arrested.
“I lost a daughter and yet I was even punished for it,” he said in Cebuano.
Concordio, on the other hand, will see his wife’s grave also. He was jailed even before he was through grieving over her death.
Concordio said he wants to return to work as a jeepney driver, while Maximo hoped to again ferry passengers in his trisikad.
Concordio has three children to feed; Maximo is left with four after the death of Maylen.
They hoped people will still trust them despite having served time in jail.
“Wala man miy sala, maayo unta makatrabaho ko’g balik para sa akong mga anak (We are innocent, so I hope I can get a job to support my children),” Concordio said.
Maximo said it is up to God what will be Tabora’s fate. He does not acknowledge him anymore as a nephew, however, for killing his daughter and making him and Corcordio take the fall.
