CIDG: Santos' new motion a rehash of old arguments

CEBU, Philippines - The Criminal Investigation and Detective Group (CIDG) is strongly opposing the motion for reconsideration filed by Bella Ruby Santos and her British boyfriend, Ian Charles Griffiths, respondents in the case for kidnapping with homicide.

CIDG’ lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna stated that the motion filed by the respondents last Monday contains no new arguments and has been taken up already.

The arguments in the motion for reconsideration are “substantially a rehash and repetition” of their counter-affidavit, the CIDG said of the motion from the two accused.

The CIDG filed the complaint for kidnapping with homicide before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office together with the father of the victim Ellah Joy Pique.

Recently, CIDG filed a “vehement opposition to the motion for reconsideration with prayer for the immediate filing of information in court.” The agency said there’s a need to file the information immediately in court, as there is an indication that Santos may hide after she sold her house in Barangay Inayagan, Naga City and her vehicle.

The CIDG likewise asked that the motion for reconsideration be dismissed for the failure of Santos and Griffiths to present new evidence.

Lawyer Hazan Bargamento, co-counsel of dela Cerna, said they are seeking the immediate filing of the information because of the possibility that Santos will flee.

Earlier, Santos and Griffiths asked the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office to reconsider its ruling recommending the filing of charges against them in court.

Santos and Griffiths, through their lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo, filed a motion for reconsideration citing three grounds.

The grounds were that Griffiths was deprived of due process as he was not validly subpoenaed in his UK residence, the “doubtful credibility” of witnesses and the failure of the police to present the DNA results amounting to willful suppression of evidence.

The three-man panel composed of prosecutors Jose Edwin Renegado, Anabelle Robles and Maria Luisa Ong found probable cause to indict the respondents in relation to the death of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last February.

They ruled that there was a positive identification by the complainant’s witnesses that cannot be doubted.

Meanwhile, Renante Pique, father of Ellah Joy said he would want dela Cerna to continue as legal counsel.

“If I will to decide I will get the service of dela Cerna since he was there from the start and he can help a lot in the case… however, I have to coordinate with the Children’s Legal Bureau,” Pique explained. (FREEMAN)