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APPELLANTS’ BRIEF People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al. S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64 Nature of Action STATEMENT OF THE CASE This is an automatic review of the death penalty imposed on the five accused- appellants by the trial court in a criminal case for murder. Specifically, this is the Abadilla murder case: the ambush-shooting of former PC Metrocom Col. Rolando Abadilla on 13 June 1996 while he was in the driver's seat of hiscar caught in traffice along Katipunan Ave., Quezon City. The five accused-appellants - SPO2 Cesar Fortuna, Rameses de Jesus, Lenido Lumanog, Joel de Jesus, and Augusto Santos - have come to be known as the "Abadilla 5." This brief pertains to accused-appellants Lumanog and Santos but it supports the defenses and innocence of all five. Summary of Proceedings On 25 June 1996, the Information for murder was filed as Criminal Case No. Q- 96-66684 in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City. It was initially raffled to Branch 86 under Judge Teodoro Bay. Actually, informations for theft (Q-96-66679) and illegal possession of firearms (Q-96-66680, Q-96-66682, & Q-96-66683) were also filed together with the one for murder. But since these other charges were dismissed in the trial court's Joint Decision on these five cases, we shall no longer discuss these other charges, except in so far as their dismissals also support the innocence of the accused- appellants for murder. The previous day, 24 June 1996, the rounded-up suspects of the Abadilla murder were first brought out in public at a police press conference after several days when they were subjected to warrantless arrests, secret and incommunicado detention, intensive torture, and coerced confessions by their arresting officers. It was immediately after that press conference that the suspects were brought to the prosecutor's office for summary inquest. Also on that day, some of the wives of the presented suspects filed complaints for torture and other human rights violations with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). This initiated a parallel proceeding to that of the Abadilla murder case. Page 6 of 127 6
APPELLANTS’ BRIEF People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al. S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64 On 10 July 1996, the Abadilla murder case was re-raffled to Branch 219 under Judge Jose Mendoza a week after Judge Bay inhibited himself. On 18 July, the accused were arraigned and pleaded "not guilty." Defense lawyers waived preliminary investigation in order to go straight to trial. The prosecution started its presentation of evidence on 1 August. In the meantime, on 26 July 1996, the CHR issued its Resolution on the complaints of the Abadilla murder suspects and wives, finding that respondent police officers could have violated the visitorial rights and right to counsel of the suspects, including arbitrary detention of the latter, and forwarding the records of the case to the Department of Justice (DOJ). It is docketed there as I.S. No. 96-663 in August. By April 1997, the prosecution in the Abadilla murder case rested its case with its Formal Offer of Evidence, anchored on the positive identification of the accused by eyewitness security guard Freddie Alejo. On 11 July, Judge Mendoza inhibited himself, and the case was subsequently re-raffled to Branch 103 under Judge Jaime Salazar, Jr. The latter therefore had not personally heard and observed any of the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, including Alejo. On 14 August, the trial court dismissed the case as to accused Arturo Napolitano based on his demurrer to evidence. On 10 December 1997, the several defense lawyers started presentation of evidence for each of the accused. Most of 1998 was devoted to presentation of evidence for the defense, with alibi and denial as the main defenses. On 23 April 1999, the defense rested its case with the filing of several formal offers of evidence, notably the one for accused Fortuna. On 11 August 1999, the trial court of Judge Salazar promulgated his Joint Decision dated July 30, 1999 sentencing the "Abadilla 5" to death based mainly on their positive identification by eyewitness Alejo. It however acquitted accused Lorenzo delos Santos notwithstanding his identification by Alejo and his earlier signed confession, Page 7 of 127 7
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