CAV asks SC to let victims join appealed cases

The Crusade Against Violence (CAV) is asking the Supreme Court to amend the present rules of the High Tribunal that deprive crime victims of opportunity to question their cases which are on appeal.

This came after the SC had commuted to life term the death sentence imposed on businessman Inocencio Gonzales who shot dead a pregnant woman on the eve of All Soul’s Day two years ago in front of Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City.

The woman’s two-year-old son was also wounded in the incident.

"Had the victims’ family been given an opportunity to challenge the argument of the accused, there could have been a different ruling now," CAV president Carina Agarao said.

Marikina City Regional Trial Court Judge Reuben de la Cruz sentenced to death Gonzales for the killing of Feliber Andres, pregnant wife of Noel Andres, with whom the accused had an argument over a parking space inside the memorial park on the night of Oct. 31, 1999.

The SC, however, modified to homicide the killing of the woman and sentenced Gonzales to 14 years.

For the almost fatal shooting of children Kenneth Andres and Kevin Valdez, the SC found Gonzales guilty of physical injuries and sentenced him to 20 days each.

Agarao explained that it was Gonzales, himself, who admitted to investigator PO1 Elmer Ramos that he shot Andres because he was distraught over a personal problem.

"Gonzales’ admission could have been missed during the review because the victims’s family were never involved in the process," the CAV president stressed.

Under present rules, only the Solicitor General can represent the aggrieved party. Private prosecutors, who appear on behalf of the victims in lower courts, are barred from representing their clients when the case is on appeal. — Cecille Suerte Felipe