Republic of the Philippines - Campaign

APPELLANTS’ BRIEF
People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al.
S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64
All I can probably do is like what I did with the case of
the documents offered by Atty. Bagatsing and Atty. Santos. We
can attach your real evidence [the Omega watch] to the record as
well as this Motion for Leave of Court.
We will just see whether what the Supreme Court will do
with this. I am not the one who promulgated the rules of court,
only the Supreme Court. I am not the source of this (sic) rules, I
am just a trial judge. (italics supplied)
[Defense counsels then adopted the offer of proof of Fr. Reyes through counsel.]
The trial judge was not equal to his task and so passed the buck to the Supreme
Court. The buck stops here, and we can only hope and pray that the justices will be equal
to their tasks.
We submit that all the proposed additional evidence on the ABB angle, as
marshalled in accused-appellant Lumanog’s “Motion for New Trial and Related Relief”
dated 26 April 1999, and earlier incorporated herein and made an integral part hereof by
reference, be likewise all considered part of the offer of proof of the defense. Take note
that the prosecution (OSG and private prosecutor) never interposed any opposition to the
said Motion for New Trial nor to accused-appellant Lumanog’s “Urgent Motion for
Reconsideration of 17 September 2002 Resolution” dated 14 October 2002 seeking
reconsideration of the denial of new trial.
Speaking of consuelo de bobo, this was precisely the trial court’s mode in its
appealed Joint Decision of July 30, 1999 when it dismissed the first four minor charges of
theft and illegal possession of firearms before convicting the “Abadilla 5” for the main
charge of murder and imposing the death penalty. But those first four dismissals may
turn out to be more than just consuelo de bobo when given a good look.
Take especially the dismissal of the theft charge (Crim. Case No. Q-96-66679)
which is closely tied to the murder charge (Crim. Case No. Q-96-66684). It was the
murder of Abadilla which made possible the theft of his pistol, wrist watch and wallet in
the same ambush incident. In fine, the murderers were also the thieves. Note that both
murder and theft charges were conspiracy charges. But Augusto Santos, while included
among the conspirators charged with murder, was not included among the conspirators
Page 124 of 127
124