Republic of the Philippines - Campaign

APPELLANTS’ BRIEF
People of the Philippines vs. Fortuna, et. al.
S. C. G. R. No. 141660-64
The exact opposite of this ruling now calls application in the instant case. The
confessions submitted by the prosecution and admitted in evidence by the trial court
should be rendered inadmissible as they should have never been admitted at all.
B. The contents of the alleged extra-judicial confessions, inconsistencies in the
testimonies of prosecution witnesses and the positive assertions of the accused
that they were not, in fact, subjected to a custodial interrogation proper at
the IBP Office in Quezon City Hall Compound, raise serious doubts as to
whether such purported interrogations actually happened.
While the prosecution tried to show that the custodial investigation was
purportedly conducted in the IBP Office of Quezon City in the presence of counsel, a lot
of indicators point that this is not so.
1. The contents of the alleged extra-judicial confessions contain clear
indicators that these were not the result of a face-to-face question and
answer interrogation.
Again we take the documents one by one to show this Court the glaring indicators
that these alleged extra-judicial confessions were not a result of a face-to-face
investigation but were already prepared by the police officers and were presented to the
accused who were forced and intimidated into signing the same.
a. Joel de Jesus’ extra-judicial confession. (Exh. E to E-6)
If, indeed, Atty Confesor B. Sansano was present during the time when the
suspect was being apprised of his constitutional rights in his supposed extra-judicial
confession, how come that he was never asked whether he is willing to accept Atty.
Sansano as a lawyer provided by the government in the absence of a lawyer of his own
choice. The prosecution tried to establish this through the testimony of SPO2 Garcia,
however, this was not borne in the purported sworn statement of Joel de Jesus. And the
best evidence is the document itself.
The way the question and answer was transcribed points that this has been
prepared somewhere else and was only brought to the office of the IBP for the signing.
The following questions and answers in the sworn statement allegedly given by
Joel de Jesus in the sworn statement he purported executed at the IBP office in front of
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