3 life terms each for cop and 4 militiamen for 'mis-encounter'
A senior police officer and four members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) were sentenced with three life terms each for the death of three civilians 15 years ago.
Judge Loida Diestro-Maputol of the Regional Trial Court branch 29 found SPO1 Esmael Gervero, and Cafgu members Florencio Arbolonio, Celso Solomon, Danilo Castigador and Eduardo Bañes guilty beyond reasonable doubt of having murdered Hernando Villegas, Jose Villegas and Benito Basug Jr. in Barangay Milan, Lemery town last November 25, 1991. Two other accused--Remegildo Arbolonio and Jesus Catequista died while the case was being heard and so the case against them was dismissed.
The Court also ordered each of the five accused to pay P165,000 to the heirs of the victims as civil indemnity, and moral, exemplary and moral damages plus litigation costs.
Prosecution witnesses Delia Villegas Isaac Villegas and Roda Incronal testified that the victims were traversing a rice paddy at around 8 pm when they were felled by a volley of shots. Then they saw persons carrying long firearms and flashlights approach the hapless victims and finished them off. Hernando, Jose and Basug had 16, 14 and 20 gunshot wounds, respectively.
The court said that the accused did not deny shooting the victims. However, the accused claimed that it was a mis-encounter, as they thought that the three were members of the New People's Army, which frequently pass by the scene of the crime. To buttress their defense, the accused said that they were able to recover homemade firearms from the victims.
"The Court has carefully and painstakingly scrutinized the conflicting evidence of the prosecution and the defense, taking into consideration the physical facts surrounding the crime scene in relation to the testimonies of both prosecution and defense witnesses. As a whole, the Court has found the testimonies of prosecution witnesses to be not only straightforward and credible, but more importantly, to be more in accord with the physical evidence attending the incident, as contradistinguished with the testimonies of the defense witnesses," the 23-page decision reads.
"The Court finds the defense of mis-encounter due to mistake of fact presented by the seven accused as unbelievable and unworthy of credence. Some of the accused knew the victims... Therefore, mis-encounter cannot be appreciated. The three victims were conversing loud and laughing at each other as they crossed the ricefield approaching the group of the accused. Their voices must have been familiar to some accused who knew them."