RTC executive judge Simeon Dumdum Jr. ruled that both Benjamin Ondit, a marine engineering graduate from barangay Buanoy, Balamban town, and Genus Andon, 21, of sitio Bato, barangay Ermita were guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Ondit, who was out on bail, failed to appear before the court for the judgment of his case but Dumdum still continued the promulgation and issued a warrant for his arrest.
The record showed a certain Melvin Montenegro identified Ondit as one of two men who robbed him and took his 5110 cellular phone while he was onboard a passenger jeep near the south bus terminal on the morning of January 17, 2002.
Ondit's accomplice, his cousin Feliciano Aviso, also squealed on him after being arrested by the police, after Ondit was arrested six months later he claimed he was in Balamban last January 17.
He even presented his sister, a teacher, who testified before the court that her brother was in Balamban the whole day.
But Dumdum rejected the alibi of Ondit because during the pre-trial conference conducted on January 20, 2003, the accused and his counsel admitted that Ondit was in Cebu City.
Meanwhile, Ando was positively identified by robbery victim Agripino Dy Yu as the one who snatched his 18-karat gold bracelet while he was in Carbon market on the morning of November 16, 2002.
Yu pointed out Ando from pictures shown to him by police when he reported the incident, he later identified Ando when the accused was arrested 10 days later for another crime.
Ando claimed that he was inside their house in sitio Bato when somebody snatched the jewelry of Yu, but the court rejected his denial and alibi.
Dumdum said Ando's house is just near the corner of Lincoln and Manalili Streets and it is not physically impossible for him to be at the scene of the crime at the time of its commission. - Rene U. Borromeo/BRP