THE City Prosecutor’s Office (CPO) finds no probable cause to charge Dr. Marvin Rey Pepino, the suspect behind the shooting of a Grade 9 student during a scuffle at a bar in Davao City, with murder, and instead was charged for homicide.
The resolution was signed on Tuesday, July 19 by Senior Assistant City Prosecutors Armand Tirol, Daniel M. Fernandez, and Irene Joy Tala, with the recommending approval of Shahruddin Roberto Sencio, Jr., and was approved by City Prosecutor Jhopee Avanceña.
The camp of the Amierkhan Mangacop, the victim of the incident, forwarded the resolution copy to the media on Wednesday, July 20.
The resolution is in response to the murder complaint filed by the Mangacop family against Pepino, a non-uniformed doctor of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in Davao Region, who has been tagged as the shooter of Amierkhan outside a bar in Camus Extension, V. Mapa Street in the city.
However, the Prosecutor find "no probable cause" to charge Pepino with murder, as stipulated under Republic Act (RA) 10591, based on the evidence submitted, particularly the CCTV footage of the incident.
CPO said, "the killing was not attended by any qualifying circumstances under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC)."
They said the attack was sudden and unexpected to the person assaulted.
"Moreover, there is no treachery when the killing resulted from a verbal altercation between the victim and the assailant such that the victim must have been forewarned of the impending danger," the resolution states.
It added that Amierkhan was aware of the impending danger. The victim, along with his cousins, swarmed the respondent and tried to grab Pepino's firearm from him when the assailant allegedly pointed his firearm at them.
Even during the first scuffle, the CPO said Amierkhan's group already knew that the shooter had a firearm. They also said that apparently, the killing was preceded by a verbal and physical altercation between parties.
With this, CPO said it is an indication that the suspect "did not intend his shooting to be unforeseen and unexpected."
Based on the shooter’s line of fire and bullet trajectory analysis conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), "the respondent most likely shot the victim hitting the latter's front and while respondent was down and while he was ganged up on."
With this, the Prosecution said that the shooting cannot be considered as treacherous when the respondent was down on the ground after being ganged up on by several persons.
The resolution also downplayed any "abuse of superior strength." The provided evidence failed to show that Pepino had the advantage of the incident.
"[W]hile the respondent was armed, the group of Amierkhan was superior in number," it stated.
The Prosecutors also did not see any evidence to prove that the shooter intended to kill the victim.
Thus, Pepino cannot be charged with murder, but instead, qualified for homicide.
The suspect also stated in his counter-affidavit that his action was "self-defense."
Meanwhile, the Mangacop family, in a statement forwarded to the media, said they were disappointed with the resolution.
"The Family is outraged and shocked at the speed the City Prosecutors' Office can release their resolution and decide on the case," the family said.
They said the NBI, who conducted a parallel investigation, only submitted their findings on Friday, July 15.
The camp said the family will discuss their next move on the case.
The family, for now, is asking for prayers.
"We will continue to fight for justice for the murder of Amierkhan Pulalon Mangacop," the family said. RGL