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Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Murder raps filed against village chief, son
By Raquel C. Bagnol
DAVAO CITY -- Charges have been filed against a barangay chief, his soldier-son, and two other residents of Baguio District, Davao City after the City Prosecutor's Office (CPO) found probable cause to hold them for trial.
The four respondents--barangay chief Danilo Seguilla, his son Private First Class (PFC) Mark Anthony Seguilla, Louie Barato and Jess Vargas, all of Barangay Tawantawan, Baguio District--were accused of involvement in the shooting to death of a man last December and the wounding of his companion.
They face separate charges for murder and frustrated murder before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Davao City.
Assistant City Prosecutor Maria Gemma Dabbay-Tambis said she found probable cause to move the case up for court trial.
She recommended bail bond of P120,000 for each of the respondents for the frustrated murder case and none for the murder case.
The case against the barangay official, his son and two others was filed by Bonifacio Bagasina, also a resident of Tawantawan.
He claimed that he and Gaspar Baratas were drinking liquor at around 3:30 p.m. on December 16, 2004 when Danilo and the three other accused arrived.
He alleged that Danilo shot dead Baratas using a .38 caliber gun. Seeing this, Bagasina said he stood up in alarm and it was then that Danilo's son Mark Anthony shot him in the leg.
Bagasina said he immediately jumped into a canal and crawled towards safety.
In their counter-affidavit, the respondents denied the allegations and claimed instead that Bagasina and Baratas were the ones who intended to kill them.
The younger Seguilla said he only shot Bagasina on the foot when the latter attacked him with a knife. He said he got the knife from Bagasina and surrendered it to police authorities.
After evaluating the contesting pieces of evidence, the prosecutor's office held that the complainant's version is "more in accordance with human reasoning" and ruled to recommend filing the charges in court.
The prosecutor's office held that Mark Anthony's alibi of self-defense could be best evaluated in a full-blown trial.
It was also found that Baratas earlier filed a complaint with the Ombudsman for Mindanao against Danilo and this resulted in getting him dismissed from government service and his forfeiting his benefits.
The city prosecutor also held that evident premeditation existed as a qualifying circumstance. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(July 6, 2005 issue)
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