7 convicted of illegal detention, sentenced to life imprisonment

Seven members of the defunct Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force which was used to be headed by Director Reynaldo Jaylo, were convicted by the Manila Regional Trial Court late yesterday afternoon of serious illegal detention and sentenced to five counts of life imprisonment (reclusion perpetua).

Convicted by Judge Nina Antonio Valenzuela, of Manila RTC Branch 28, were Ernesto Nicomedes; Antonio Aliermo Jr.; Elias Jaylo, a relative of Reynaldo Jaylo; Fernando Jaylo Jardin Jr., reportedly also a relative of Reynaldo Jaylo; Gerardo Sta. Maria Quisol; Rodante Cortez; and Abelardo de Jesus.

The seven are “convicted for five counts of serious illegal detention and sentenced to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of reclusion perpetua, in each of the five cases.”

The seven have earlier been arrested by authorities and detained.

Acquitted was Edgardo Ignacio.

Reynaldo Jaylo, also a former police officer of the Western Police District (WPD), was not included in the decision since he is still at-large and now in hiding.

The court said Reynaldo Jaylo will still have to undergo court proceedings once he is arrested and submitted to the jurisdiction of the court, said the judge.

In its 21-page decision, the court said that the seven were convicted of the crime after they illegally detained Andres Bugarin, Rosario Raymundo-San Pedro, Lloyd Abella, Leonida Digman-Dungca, and Sarah Gerolin, who were accused of illegal recruitment by PAIRTF.

They were all acquitted in one criminal case involving victim Edemer Aurelio.

The victims were detained by the PAIRTF in the agency’s office located at the second floor of the PNB Building, Rizal Memorial Compound, Adriatico St., Manila sometime in 2005.

Court records showed that PAIRTF members were in violation of the law after they continued to operate the agency, detaining suspected illegal recruiters even after their term expired July 9, 2005.

 “The prosecution thrusts that the detention of the victims was illegal because the accused members of the PAIRTF were without authority to do so, the lifetime of the PAIRTF being only one year from 9 July 2004, as fixed in Executive Order No. 325,” said the court.

 “…the acts of the accused were in simulation of public authority, the PAIRTF by then being non-existent… that the EO 325 expired in July 9, 2005, and there were still persons detained at the PAIRTF detention cell without commitment orders,” said the court.

 Thus, on this ground alone, the detention of the victims is illegal,” said the court.      – Sandy Araneta