SC affirms conviction of 'Abadilla Five'

The Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of five men, known as the "Abadilla Five," who are jailed for the murder of former Colonel Rolando Abadilla in 1996. Voting 10-4-1, the tribunal upheld the Court of Appeals' earlier decision affirming a Quezon City Regional Trial Court ruling that found the following guilty of killing Abadilla: SPO2 Cesar Fortuna, Rameses de Jesus, Lenido Lumanog, Joel de Jesus, and Augusto Santos. The SC also sustained the life imprisonment meted out by the appellate court. However, the high court raised to P75,000 the amount of civil indemity for Abadilla's death. The moral and exemplary damages were reduced to P75,000 and P30,000 respectively. "Decision dated April 1, 2008 of the Court of Appeals is hereby affirmed with modifications in that the civil indemnity for the death of Col. Rolando Abadilla is hereby increased to P75,000 and the amounts of moral and exemplary damages awarded to his heirs are reduced to P75,000 and P30,000 respectively," said the Supreme Court. The ruling dismissed the appeals of the accused to reverse the CA's ruling. Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr. penned the 75-page decision promulgated last September 7, 2010. Those who concurred with his ponencia were Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Jose Perez, and Jose Medoza. Those who dissented were Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Roberto Abad, and Ma. Lourdes Sereno. Associate Justice Antonio Nachura did not participate because he signed some of the case's pleadings when he was still the Solicitor General. June 13, 1996 Abadilla, former head of the Metropolitan Command Intelligence and Security Group of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police), was ambushed and shot dead in broad daylight on June 13, 1996 along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. In 1999, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court found the five accused guilty of killing Abadilla. The accused asked the Court of Appeals to reverse the ruling, but the appellate court affirmed their conviction in April 2008. The accused then elevated the matter to the Supreme Court, which handed down its decision on September 7 this year. SC ruling In its ruling, the SC lent credence to the eyewitness testimony of witness Freddie Alejo, the security guard who saw Abadilla's shooting. “None of the appellants (five men) presented clear and convincing excuses showing the physical impossibility of their being at the crime scene. Hence, the trial court and the CA did not err in rejecting their common defense of alibi," said the SC. "Alibi is the weakest of all defenses, for it is easy to fabricate and difficult to disprove, and it is for this reason that it ccannot prevail over the positive identification of the accused by the witness," it added. The SC also said the ballistics and fingerprint examinations are inconclusive in exonerating the accused. The exam results showed that the empty bullet shells recovered from the crime scene and the slug taken from Abadilla's body did not match the firearms seized from the accused. However, the court said the CA "correctly held" that "the negative results of the ballistics examination was inconclusive, for there is no showing that the firearms supposedly found in the [accused's] possession were the same ones used in the ambush-slay of Abadilla." The SC also ruled that the elements of treachery and evident premediation were present in the commission of the crime. Carpio and Abad's dissents Of the four SC justices who dissented from the majority, Associate Justices Carpio and Abad wrote their dissenting opinions. Carpio said "the prosecution failed to discharge its burden of proof, specifically to prove the identity of the perpetrators of the crime beyond reasonable doubt." "Alejo's identification of Joel was fatally defective; Alejo's identification of Lumanog, Rameses, Fortuna and Santos was also fatally defective. Both identification directly emanated fromm illegal police activities -- impermissible suggestion and coerced confession," said the senior magistrate. Carpio added that because of the absence of credible evidence, the five accused should be acquitted. Abad, meanwhile, said the SC should have taken "judicial notice" that Abadilla may have been killed by the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a communist death squad because a slug found in Abadilla's body matched the slugs found in an ABB victim. –VVP, GMANews.TV