Case Digest (G.R. No. 132154)
Facts:
People of the Philippines v. Pacito Ordono y Negranza alias Asing and Apolonio Medina y Nosuelo alias Poling, G.R. No. 132154, June 29, 2000, the Supreme Court En Banc, Per Curiam. The case reaches the Court on automatic review of the 11 December 1997 Decision of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 34, Balaoan, La Union (Crim. Case No. 2415), which found both accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt of rape with homicide and imposed two death penalties on each.On 5 August 1994 the decomposing body of 15-year-old Shirley Victore was found near a bridge in Santol, La Union; autopsy by an NBI medico-legal officer showed rape and strangulation. Unidentified informants pointed to Pacito Ordono and Apolonio Medina. The police invited both for questioning; lacking direct evidence they were released. On 10 August 1994 both returned to the police station and admitted participation; their confessions were reduced to writing. No lawyer was present at that time because Santol had no practicing lawyers; the police advised the suspects in their dialect of the right to remain silent and to counsel, and proceeded with the investigation after the accused said they wanted to continue. Present during the taking of the written statements were the Parish Priest, the Municipal Mayor, the Chief of Police, relatives and other police officers.
The written statements describe a joint rape and subsequent hanging of the victim; each accused separately narrated his role and signed or thumbmarked his confession. While detained at the Santol police station, radio announcer Roland Almoite interviewed both men; the taped interview, later broadcast, recorded their admissions and expressions of remorse. A few days later the police brought the accused to Balaoan where a PAO lawyer, Oscar B. Corpuz, privately advised them of their rights and the consequences of their confessions; the accused deferred signing but later returned, were again advised by Corpuz and by MTC Judge Fabian M. Bautista, and then signed/subscribed their statements before the judge with Corpuz and various witnesses signing as well.
At arraignment the accused pleaded not guilty. At trial both testified they had been physically abused and coerced into confessing—alleging beatings, insertion of a gun barrel into the mouth, hanging upside down, threats of being “salvaged,” and other intimidations—while the prosecution presented the written confessions, the taped radio admissions, medico-legal findings corroborating injuries to the victim, and other evidence. On 11 December 1997 the RTC convicted both appellants of rape with homicide (two counts) and imposed two death penalties each, relying principally on the extrajudicial confessions.
On automatic review the accused challenged the conviction principally on constitutional grounds: that their...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Was the extrajudicial written confessions of the accused admissible despite the absence of counsel during the custodial interrogation?
- Did subsequent assistance by the PAO lawyer and the fact that the confessions were later signed before a judge cure the earlier absence of counsel?
- Were the tape-recorded admissions to radio announcer Roland Almoite admissible in evidence?
- Were the accused’s allegations of torture and their alibi sufficient to defeat conviction, and did the evidence establish conspiracy and ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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