By Czarina Nicole Ong Ki
Police Officer 3 Michael Albarico Geral has been found guilty by the Sandiganbayan Special Second Division of homicide in connection with the killing of Albert Kay Angao in 2006.
Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN)
Geral was sentenced to a penalty of six years and one day of prison mayor as minimum to 12 years and one day of reclusion temporal as maximum. He was also directed to indemnify the heirs of Angao in the amount of P175,000 as actual damages, which comprised of the embalming expense (P55,000) and legal fees (P120,000).
Geral should also pay P50,000 as civil indemnity and P50,000 as moral damages, in consonance with prevailing jurisprudence, with legal interest until their full satisfaction.
Geral is the co-accused of the late Padada Mayor Antonio Nacua Razonable of Davao del Sur in the homicide charge, which is defined under Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
Razonable, Geral and several John Does were accused of killing 16-year-old Angao "without any justifiable motive," the charge sheet against them read. Because of Razonable's death, the charge against him has been extinguished so only Geral remained to face trial.
Around midnight of April 16, 2006, Angao and three of his friends went around Digos City on board two motorcycles. When they got to Padada Highway, they were flagged down by armed police officers.
The Padada police station earlier received a directive to conduct a checkpoint along the highway because of a reported motorcycle theft. Instead of stopping, the four friends refused to do so because neither of them had a driver's license.
This prompted Geral to fire a warning shot, which made the four friends to speed off even further. A pick-up containing Razonable and Geral eventually caught up with them, and the chase continued along with shots fired.
Angao's body and fallen motorcycle were found near a transport terminal, while the other motorcycle came to a stop.
The question the anti-graft court sought to have answered is whether or not the accused killed Angao without any justifying circumstance. After reviewing the facts of the case, the anti-graft court answered in the affirmative.
When he was questioned, Geral said that it was Russel Cabatbat, one of the members of the late mayor's Civil Security Unit, who fired the shots and not him because "I took cover. So I look at the person of the motorcycle and he was armed with the short handgun so I did not fire my gun."
But the court said this "lame pinpointing" does not make sense and does not excuse Geral from what truly happened.
"In the over-all scheme of things, Geral both had the authority and the firepower to effectively counter any resistance that the fleeing friends could then have offered," the court ruled. "His apparent suggestion that he could only cower at the sight of a short handgun and allow another to fire at the four individuals defies common logic and human experience."
The court further said that it wanted to exercise leniency, so it made a studied consideration of the possible circumstance of lawful performance of official duty. However, the testimony of prosecution witness, Police Chief Superintendent Rosauro Acio showed that the chase operation exceeded the standards of "lawful performance of duty."
The PNP frowns upon the use of force, and it should only be considered as a last resort, especially against a suspect with armed resistance. But in this case, the supposed arm resistance of Angao and his friends could not even be drawn conclusively.
"In fact, even if the Court were to give credence to the claim that the fleeing youth aimed fire at their pursuers, the same does not provide ample justification for the accused's act of opening fire on the fleeing party in evident disregard of the force's rules of engagement," the decision read.
The autopsy also revealed that Angao sustained a gunshot wound in the front part of his chest wall, which meant that "the source shot must have been made at least obliquely to the decedent; certainly, not from his back."
This negates the claim of Geral that their vehicle pursued the motorcycles only up to the terminal in Sulop. The more tenable scenario, according to the court, is that one of the pursuers, at one point, was able to gain a vantage point to make a frontal shot at Angao.
The court said that Geral and his companions made an "inordinate response" just to catch two motorcycles fleeing a checkpoint. "In a society where rule of law is the norm, however, mere suspicion that these fleeing persons were thieves can never be countenanced as an impetus for such brash action in the guise of law enforcement," the decision stated.
The 31-page decision was written by Chairperson Oscar Herrera Jr. with the concurrence of Associate Justices Karl Miranda and Ronald Moreno.
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Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN)
Geral was sentenced to a penalty of six years and one day of prison mayor as minimum to 12 years and one day of reclusion temporal as maximum. He was also directed to indemnify the heirs of Angao in the amount of P175,000 as actual damages, which comprised of the embalming expense (P55,000) and legal fees (P120,000).
Geral should also pay P50,000 as civil indemnity and P50,000 as moral damages, in consonance with prevailing jurisprudence, with legal interest until their full satisfaction.
Geral is the co-accused of the late Padada Mayor Antonio Nacua Razonable of Davao del Sur in the homicide charge, which is defined under Article 249 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
Razonable, Geral and several John Does were accused of killing 16-year-old Angao "without any justifiable motive," the charge sheet against them read. Because of Razonable's death, the charge against him has been extinguished so only Geral remained to face trial.
Around midnight of April 16, 2006, Angao and three of his friends went around Digos City on board two motorcycles. When they got to Padada Highway, they were flagged down by armed police officers.
The Padada police station earlier received a directive to conduct a checkpoint along the highway because of a reported motorcycle theft. Instead of stopping, the four friends refused to do so because neither of them had a driver's license.
This prompted Geral to fire a warning shot, which made the four friends to speed off even further. A pick-up containing Razonable and Geral eventually caught up with them, and the chase continued along with shots fired.
Angao's body and fallen motorcycle were found near a transport terminal, while the other motorcycle came to a stop.
The question the anti-graft court sought to have answered is whether or not the accused killed Angao without any justifying circumstance. After reviewing the facts of the case, the anti-graft court answered in the affirmative.
When he was questioned, Geral said that it was Russel Cabatbat, one of the members of the late mayor's Civil Security Unit, who fired the shots and not him because "I took cover. So I look at the person of the motorcycle and he was armed with the short handgun so I did not fire my gun."
But the court said this "lame pinpointing" does not make sense and does not excuse Geral from what truly happened.
"In the over-all scheme of things, Geral both had the authority and the firepower to effectively counter any resistance that the fleeing friends could then have offered," the court ruled. "His apparent suggestion that he could only cower at the sight of a short handgun and allow another to fire at the four individuals defies common logic and human experience."
The court further said that it wanted to exercise leniency, so it made a studied consideration of the possible circumstance of lawful performance of official duty. However, the testimony of prosecution witness, Police Chief Superintendent Rosauro Acio showed that the chase operation exceeded the standards of "lawful performance of duty."
The PNP frowns upon the use of force, and it should only be considered as a last resort, especially against a suspect with armed resistance. But in this case, the supposed arm resistance of Angao and his friends could not even be drawn conclusively.
"In fact, even if the Court were to give credence to the claim that the fleeing youth aimed fire at their pursuers, the same does not provide ample justification for the accused's act of opening fire on the fleeing party in evident disregard of the force's rules of engagement," the decision read.
The autopsy also revealed that Angao sustained a gunshot wound in the front part of his chest wall, which meant that "the source shot must have been made at least obliquely to the decedent; certainly, not from his back."
This negates the claim of Geral that their vehicle pursued the motorcycles only up to the terminal in Sulop. The more tenable scenario, according to the court, is that one of the pursuers, at one point, was able to gain a vantage point to make a frontal shot at Angao.
The court said that Geral and his companions made an "inordinate response" just to catch two motorcycles fleeing a checkpoint. "In a society where rule of law is the norm, however, mere suspicion that these fleeing persons were thieves can never be countenanced as an impetus for such brash action in the guise of law enforcement," the decision stated.
The 31-page decision was written by Chairperson Oscar Herrera Jr. with the concurrence of Associate Justices Karl Miranda and Ronald Moreno.
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