Case Digest (G.R. No. 221347)
Facts:
People of the Philippines v. Roger Dominguez y Santos, Raymond Dominguez y Santos, Jayson Miranda y Nacpil, Rolando Talban y Mendoza, and Joel Jacinto y Celestino, G.R. No. 229420, February 19, 2018, Supreme Court Third Division, Velasco Jr., J., writing for the Court.
On January 13, 2011, Venson Evangelista was abducted in Cubao, Quezon City; his charred remains were found the next day in Nueva Ecija. In connection therewith, Alfred Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan surrendered to police and executed extrajudicial confessions identifying the respondents, among others, as perpetrators. An Information for Carnapping with Homicide (RA No. 6539, §14) was filed in the Quezon City RTC as Criminal Case No. Q-11-168431 charging Mendiola and the respondents; the Dominguez brothers and Jayson Miranda were later arrested and pleaded not guilty, while Rolando Taiban and Joel Jacinto remained at large.
The prosecution moved (March 18, 2011) to discharge Mendiola as an accused so he could be a state witness; hearings were held, and Mendiola testified on June 27, July 8 and July 11, 2011 in support of the motion. The RTC, Branch 215, granted the motion in an Order of September 29, 2011, stating that the testimony given in the discharge hearing "hereby form part of the trial of this case." Mendiola, however, died on May 6, 2012 before he could be presented as a witness during the trial on the merits.
Following Mendiola’s death, the RTC required position papers on admissibility of his discharge testimony. On January 10, 2014 the RTC issued an Order striking Mendiola’s testimony from the records, reasoning that the testimony had been given only for purposes of the discharge hearing and that under Section 18, Rule 119 the state witness must testify again during trial proper; failure to do so, the RTC held, deprived the accused of the right to confront and cross-examine and thus warranted expunging the testimony.
The prosecution (Office of the Solicitor General) sought relief in the Court of Appeals via a petition for certiorari under Rule 65. The CA, in a May 27, 2016 Decision, found no grave abuse of discretion by the trial court and denied the petition, affirming the RTC’s January 10, 2014 Order; it...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Should the testimony of the deceased state witness Alfred Mendiola, given during the discharge proceeding, be stricken off the records of Criminal Case No. Q-11-...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)