Case Digest (G.R. No. L-18179)
Facts:
Landawi Parasan Bilaan, Antik Felix, and Eris Seroc, petitioners, were charged with robbery with multiple homicide before the Court of First Instance of Davao in G.R. No. L-18179. The case was decided by the Supreme Court En Banc on June 29, 1962, with Bautista Angelo, J., writing for the Court.The three accused were members of the Bilaan tribe who did not understand English, Spanish, Tagalog, or the regional Visayan dialect used in court proceedings, so the court sought an interpreter. Despite efforts, no interpreter was secured until November 4, 1960, by which time the prosecution had already completed presentation of its evidence, including affidavits or confessions attributed to the three accused. At that earlier time the accused were represented by counsel who did not understand the Bilaan dialect and therefore likely could not effectively prepare or test the voluntariness of the confessions; that counsel objected to the confessions only on grounds of lack of proper identification.
On November 4, 1960 the court obtained the services of Atty. Primo S. Ocampo, who understood the Bilaan dialect and appeared for the first time for the defense. After conferring with his clients, Atty. Ocampo sought to introduce testimony — beginning with witness Timonas Felix — that policemen and constabulary personnel had beaten the accused, a fact offered to show the alleged confessions were involuntary. The fiscal objected to any evidence tending to impeach the voluntariness of the confessions on the ground that the defense had not reserved the right to dispute voluntariness; the trial court sustained the prosecution's objection.
Atty. Ocampo then filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court seek...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Was the trial court's exclusion of testimony intended to show that the alleged confessions were involuntary proper where defense counsel had not previously reserved the right to dispute their voluntariness?
- Did the absence of an interpreter and the late appearance of counsel conversant with the Bilaan dialect require permitting the new counsel to present evidence challenging the voluntariness of the confessio...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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