Arbet case prosecutors hit demurrer to evidence

The prosecution panel in the killing of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco has opposed the demurrer to evidence filed by Nestor Carrol and Heracleo Rallestan, the alleged conspirators of prime suspect Michel Favila.

Carrol and Rallestan filed the demurrer to tell the court that they would no longer show additional evidence because the prosecution, in the first place, has no sufficient evidence. In the same pleading, they also asked the court to dismiss the case against them.

They anchored their demurrer on three grounds: that conspiracy was not sufficiently and adequately established; that the prosecution's evidence, documentary or otherwise, is insufficient to prove the crime charged against them; and that no evidence can be taken against either of them because their alleged involvement was not satisfactorily proven.

But in their formal opposition, the prosecutors said the demurrer filed by the two accused failed to consider the important aspect of the prosecution's evidence, thus, "totally fails to show that such evidence is insufficient."

The prosecutors refer to the testimonies of witnesses Jocelyn Gomez and Eddie Ardita, which reportedly elaborated and confirmed Carrol and Rellastan's participation in the crime.

"By sidestepping these important parts of the evidence for the prosecution, said accused are obviously trying to select only parts of the evidence which would support their demurrer," the prosecutors argued.

While Carrol and Rallestan stated in their demurrer that witnesses Jean Mabaga and Gina Teofilo did not recognize them, prosecutors say both accused may have forgotten that the same witnesses, including Gomez and Ardita, had positively identified them in open court. Prosecutors say what should be considered are the evidence during trial, not the evidence during preliminary investigation.

Carrol and Rellastan had said the claim of witnesses that they were seen before Yongco's killing is not sufficient to prove their guilt. They argued that their presence at a particular street where anybody could pass through should not be taken against them and should not be understood that they conspired with the killer.

But the prosecutors emphasized that the substantial amount of time that Favila, Carrol, and Rellastan allegedly patrolled the vicinity of Yongco's residence before the crime was committed, and the time that they simultaneously left the crime scene, "traveled in the same direction."

The prosecutors said the fact that all the accused went into the same house in Talamban where Favila said to have dropped off Ardita "clearly and logically shows that the crime is a product of a carefully-laid plan to commit the same."

Meanwhile, National Bureau of Investigation agent Florante Gaoiran yesterday corroborated the testimony of fellow agent Arnel Pura that Yongco's two helpers earlier pointed to another person as the suspect.

Gaoiran said he was also one of those who responded to the incident on October 11, 2004 and that he was also present when helpers Marifel Abadilla and Baby Jane Lage identified a picture of a man named Bobby Gamana as the one whom they saw walk out of Yongco's office with a gun.

The picture was sent by the bureau's office in Iligan City shortly after a cartographic sketch of the suspect was forwarded to the NBI's offices. Gamana had a pending warrant of arrest for murder in Lanao del Sur and attempted homicide in Palawan.

However, four days after the two helpers executed affidavits pointing to Gamana, Pura said they reportedly recanted when the Integrated Bar of the Philippines took them from the NBI custody. Pura said even the NBI was not allowed entry to the meeting the IBP held with the two helpers.

Yongco was the private prosecutor in the parricide case against Ruben Ecleo Jr., the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, of which Favila is a member. Ecleo's charges stemmed from the death of his wife in January 2002.

Favila has just been released from hospital after his right foot was amputated due to diabetic ulcer. - Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM