Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Hearing of kidnap raps vs ex-cop, 4 others reset By Rhodamae M. Hernandez
THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) reset once again the hearing of kidnapping and illegal detention charges filed against a former policeman, his uncle, a retired police officer's son, and two other co-accused, to February 17.
RTC Branch 10 Presiding Judge Jose Emmanuel Castillo, in his order, reset the trial of Police Officer 2 Kit Michael Sanz, traffic investigator of the Tugbok Police; his uncle Angelito Ventura Froilan; Wendel Asentista; and Petronilo Ali and Marvin Booc because the court is now conducting its semestral inventory of cases.
The accused were charged with kidnapping gasoline station owner, Edgar Barroso, on July 8 in Panacan, Davao City.
The accused earlier submitted an urgent motion to quash information and for the conduct of preliminary investigation claiming their arrest was illegal.
The motion said their warrantless arrest came four days after the rescue operation of the victim and the arrests were merely based on the statements of Marvin Digamon Booc who happened to be one of the accused.
The motion pointed out that the arrest of a person based on the statements of another person and four days after the alleged commission of the crime is highly irregular and relies only on hearsay.
The accused, in their motions, claimed that the arrest and conduct of inquest proceedings were borne out of the statements of Booc, which are inadmissible in court for being hearsay and even self-serving because there was no opportunity for the accused to confront their accusers.
