Increased penalty for carnappers sought in Senate

(Updated 8:10 p.m.) At least two senators on Monday filed bills designed to make life more difficult for carjackers amid the brutal murders of two car dealers allegedly by members of a carjacking syndicate. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV sought to make car theft a non-bailable offense, while Sen. Francis Escudero wanted to increase the penalty for carnapping. Trillanes’ Senate Bill No. 2646 seeks to amend Republic Act No. 6539 or the Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972 to raise the penalties for car theft by making it a non-bailable offense under certain conditions. “It is time to plug the loopholes in the law that has allowed this reign of greed and terror of these criminal syndicates to persist despite the efforts of our law enforcement officers," Trillanes said in a statement. Under SB 2646, carjacking is a non-bailable offense “when the crime is committed by a carjacking syndicate; when it is committed by means of force, intimidation or violence; or when owner, driver or passenger of the carjacked vehicle is killed in the commission of the crime." Trillanes explained that car theft should be deemed as having done by a syndicate when two or more people took part in it.
Increased penalty Escudero’s Senate Bill No. 2651, meanwhile, seeks to increase the penalty for carnapping without violence or intimidation to 20 to 30 years imprisonment, and 30 to 40 years if violence was committed to the victim. “The criminal minds are no longer deterred by our penal code. Under the current law, the accused is entitled to post a bail as a matter of right. The crime has become very lucrative for these carnappers that they can just easily shell out money to post bail and walk scotfree," said Escudero. Escudero said once the minimum penalty is increased to 20 years, suspects can be denied bail because it will be on the same level as life imprisonment. Under the existing RA 6539, any person who is found guilty of car stealing will be punished by: • imprisonment for not less than 14 years and eight months and not more than 17 years and four months when the car theft is committed without violence or intimidation of persons, or force upon things; • imprisonment for not less than 17 years and four months and not more than 30 years, when the vehicle stealing is committed by means of violence against or intimidation of any person, or force upon things; • life imprisonment to death when the owner, driver or occupant of the stolen motor vehicle is killed in the commission of the car theft. Carjack-murders The country was recently rocked by the recent carjack-murders of car dealers Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano, the son of Marcos lawyer Oliver Lozano. Emerson, 44, and driver Ernani Sencil disappeared January 12 in Quezon City, while on their way to meet a prospective buyer of his Kia Carnival van. Sencil’s charred body was found on January 13 in Tarlac while Lozano’s charred body was found on January 14 in Pampanga. The Kia van was found burning in Bataan on January 19. Meanwhile, Evangelista disappeared on January 13 in Quezon City when he road tested a Land Cruiser he was selling. Evangelista’s charred and brutalized body was found in Nueva Ecija on January 14. On Monday, Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Allan Purisima said Alfred Mendiola, who confessed about his role in the killing of Evangelista, had linked the Dominguez Gang to Lozano’s murder. On Saturday, one of the two siblings being linked to the brutal carjack-slay of Evangelista voluntarily turned himself in to Bulacan police Saturday night to clear his name. Bulacan police officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Wendy Rosario said Raymond Dominguez went to his office of at 10 p.m. on Saturday, accompanied by his mother and lawyer Joey Cruz. In a phone interview with GMANews.TV, Rosario said Dominguez sought police custody as a person in distress and not as a murder suspect. A report of Unang Hirit said Dominguez has about 34 cases, and he is out on bail in 31 cases. Of the 34 cases, around 20 reportedly involve car theft. - VVP/KBK, GMANews.TV