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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
FOLLOWING his acquittal by the Court of Appeals (CA) of double
murder charges, its now former Oriental Mindoro Rep. Jose
Villarosa‘s turn to get back at the lady judge who had earlier
convicted and meted him with death penalty.
The former Oriental Mindoro lawmaker and
governor, through lawyer Edmund Fortun, on Friday filed a complaint
against Quezon City Judge Ma. Theresa Yadao for rendering an
“unjust judgment” before the Department of Justice.
Villarosa claimed that he was a victim of
an unjust decision by Yadao, whom he said has a “history of
abuse” in her sala.
“I want her to be fair to litigants,”
Villarosa told reporters. “If she can do it to a former
congressman, how much more to ordinary citizens.”
Rendering an unjust judgment is penalized under
Article 204 (Knowingly rendering unjust judgment), Chapter Two
(Malfeasance and Misfeasance in Office) of the Revised Penal Code.
It is punishable by imprisonment of six months and one day to 12
years and perpetual disqualification from public office for the
offender.
In a five-page complaint affidavit, Villarosa
accused Yadao of manifesting partiality “towards the complainant
and deliberately disregarded my testimony and the evidence I
presented.”
He added that Yadao “blindly relied” on the
extra-judicial confession of Eduardo Hermoso, a co-accused in the
case despite the fact that the prosecution had failed to present any
evidence to prove his participation in the alleged meeting of
October 7, 2007 where the alleged conspiracy to kill the two sons of
his political rival, Ricardo Quintos, on December 13, 1997 was
hatched.
“How can Judge Yadao conclude that I may have
been in the said meeting absent any evidence? Clearly her cited
conclusion is the product of mere conjectures, surmises and
presumptions that is contrary to law and established jurisprudence.
A decision must only be based on facts and law,” Villarosa,
in his complaint, said.
“Another indicator that she knowingly rendered
an unjust judgment is that she was determined on establishing a
connection between the other accused and me . . . by means of the
check booklets offered as evidence by the prosecution,” he added.
Villarosa pointed out that while he did not deny
that he issued the checks, there was no testimony to show that the
payment was made in pursuance of the plan to kill the victims or in
consideration of the killing.
“Judge Yadao calculatingly ignored the
fundamental and most basic precept that to justify conviction, guilt
must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, keeping in mind the
Constitutional presumption of innocence,” Villarosa noted.
Villarosa was one of the accused in the criminal
cases filed by the Quintos family. The former lawmaker, in a joint
decision issued by Yadao on February 3, 2006, was sentenced with
death penalty.
Villarosa appealed his case before the CA,
which, on March 8, 2008, acquitted him and his three co-accused of
the crime of double murder.
The CA Fifth Division, in a 118-page decision
penned by Associate Justice Noel Tijam, “affirmed in part and
reversed in part” Yadao’s ruling that convicted Villarosa and
seven others for the murder of brothers Michael and Paul Quintos.
It noted that the killing of the Quintos
brothers was not politically motivated but may have something to do
with the feud between the Quintos family and their farmers who have
been asserting their claims over the Golden Country Farms, Inc.
However, the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s decision
insofar as it found guilty beyond reasonable doubt accused Eduardo
Hermoso, Manolito Matricio and Josue Ungsod of two counts of murder,
qualified by treachery, with aggravating circumstance of evident
premeditation.
The CA also modified their penalty from death to
reclusion perpetua or a maximum of 40 years in jail for each count
of murder due to the abolition of the capital punishment.
“Conspiracy, having been established,
accused-appellants Hermoso, Matricio and Ungsod shall each suffer a
three-fold penalty of reclusion perpetua for each count of
murder,” the CA said.
It likewise ordered the three to jointly pay the
Quintoses the amount of P728,464 as actual, moral and exemplary
damages.
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