‘Conviction in Quintos killing should be sustained’

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said the conviction of three of the seven original accused in the 1997 killing of brothers Paul and Michael Quintos should be sustained after the prosecution was able to prove their complicity to commit the crime beyond reasonable doubt.

This was the OSG’s manifestation to the Court of Appeals’ 13th division in a 27-page consolidated brief filed last Dec. 4.

The OSG was tasked to review the case on the killing of the Quintoses, sons of former congressman Ricardo Quintos, on Dec. 13, 1997 in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.

According to the OSG, the conspiracy among appellants Josue Ungsod, Manolito Matricio and Eduardo Hermoso was "proven beyond reasonable doubt."

"The record is replete with circumstances establishing the existence of conspiracy among the appellants," it said.

Earlier, the OSG, in a separate pleading, recommended the acquittal of the four other accused, including former Mindoro congressman Jose Villarosa.

In a 52-page manifestation, former Solicitor General Antonio Eduardo Nachura, now a member of the Supreme Court, sought the acquittal of Villarosa and his co-accused Ruben Balaguer, Gelito Bautista and   Mario Tobias, saying the prosecution failed to prove their guilt.

The OSG, however, said their acquittal "does not suggest that they are innocent," except that their participation in the murder were not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

In its plea against Ungsod, Matricio and Hermoso, the OSG said their conviction should be sustained, but the capital punishment originally meted on them should be reduced to life imprisonment following the abolition of the death sentence.

In seeking the acquittal of Villarosa and three other accused, the OSG argued that the prosecution failed to sufficiently establish the ‘existence of conspiracy’ by proof, independent of Hermoso’s extrajudicial confession or admission.

In fact, apart from the accused separate denials as regard their participation in the killing of the Quintos brothers, Villarosa and his co-accused rejected the prosecution’s charge of conspiracy as stated in Hermoso’s confession.

¡°For one, Hermoso repudiated the sinumpaang salasay claiming that the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) inflicted upon him bodily harm, and forced him to sign a  ‘ready-made’ salaysay. With Hermoso’s recantation, the prosecution’s conspiracy has not been established by competent proof independent of Hermoso’s confession or admission,¡± the OSG stressed.

For his part, Villarosa also submitted evidence that on October 7, 1997, when the alleged gathering was called to plot the murder of Quintoses, he was in Manila attending meetings with different government officials. He also submitted the Official Journal of Congress showing that he sponsored and defended a bill entitled ‘Fisheries Code of the Philippines’ from 5:15 pm to 7pm on October 7, 1997.

In arriving at the sentence of conviction, Judge Yadao relied heavily on Hermoso’s confession. In convicting all the seven accused, the Quezon City court said that there was evident premeditation and treachery in the killing of the Quintos brothers.