Court clears brothers of powers theft charge

CEBU, Philippines - Due to lack of evidence, the Regional Trial Court has cleared two brothers of the electric pilferage charges yesterday.

Jaime Boro and Eduardo Boro were arrested last January 6, 2003 for allegedly stealing electric from the Visayan Electric Company by breaking the seals and detaching the VECO meter unit of their neighbor thereby drawing electric current without the same being registered in the electric meter.

During their arraignment last April 21, 2003, both the accused entered a not guilty plea before the sala of RTC branch 12 judge Estela Alma Singco.

One of the prosecution witnesses testified that the VECO meter was removed from the post and taken down, and its seals were already broken but he failed to prove that it was actually tampered and also failed to identify who did it.

In sum, Singco said that the commission of the crime by the accused could in no way be considered as positive and credible.

“Note that the accused herein are accused of stealing and pilfering electricity per information dated January 7, 2003. It is not merely removing the meter from the post which would suffice for conviction of the accused. It must be positive testimony made by the credible witness in order to attain the level of acceptability and credibility to sustain moral certainty concerning the commission of the crime by the offenders,” Cinco said.

The judge added that the absence of credible direct testimony or eyewitness pointing to the accused as the ones tampering the meter for the purpose of stealing electricity is a strong argument to exculpate them viewed in the light of the following circumstances that there was no ERC report to indicate possible tampering of the subject meter has ever been submitted to the court and that the prosecution witness did not actually witness both accused tampering the subject meter.

Singco said that the accused defense of denial gains considerable strength in the face of the unreliable testimonies of the witnesses regarding the alleged commission of the crime.

During cross examination, Jaime was able to explain that he was merely hired by a certain “Dandan” to fix the lights in his house and that Eduardo, who is a musician by profession, is merely accompanying his brother at the time when they were arrested.

“Even if the court accepts as credible all the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, it does not rule out the possibility of accused story for there were no other witnesses to their actual tampering of the meter except for their bare assertion of one of the witnesses whose veracity was not even confirmed,” Singco added.

Singco said that the court entertains the possibility of a set up of the accused by Dandan for a reward, thereby creating grave doubts as to the culpability and the court cannot rest easy upon the certainty of their guilt, thus acquitting them of the crime. – Jasmin U. Labaco/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)