DAVAO CITY – A precautionary hold-departure order (PHDO) has been issued against Dr. Marvin Rey Andrew R. Pepino, the suspect in the shooting of 19-year-old Amierkhan Mangacop following a scuffle in a local bar last July 2.
In an order dated July 26, acting Presiding Judge Emmanuel C. Carpio of the Regional Trial Court Branch 11 in Davao City directed the Department of Foreign Affairs and offices of the Bureau of Immigration in Davao City and Manila “to stop or hold Pepino from leaving the country and to include his name in the hold-departure list.”
The Mangacop family feared that Pepino would escape prosecution by leaving the country during the pendency of the case.
The Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion last July 21 after Pepino was charged for homicide in the absence of treachery and evident premeditation, which would have qualified the offense as murder.
The downgrading allowed Pepino to post P180,000 bail – P120,000 for homicide and P60,000 for violation of Republic Act No. 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Carpio, in a separate order, suspended the arraignment of the accused for 60 days from July 22 or until September 20 after the private counsel of the Mangacop family filed a motion for reconsideration on the joint resolution of the Prosecutor’s Pffice indicting Pepino for homicide.
Citing Paragraph (c), Section 1 of Rule 117 of the Revised Rules of Court, the arraignment may be suspended upon motion by the property party when “a petition for review of the resolution of the prosecutor is pending at either the Department of Justice, or the Office of the President,” provided that the period of suspension shall not exceed 60 days counted from the filing of the petition with the reviewing office.
At 12:50 a.m. July 2, Pepino, a physician at the Camp Sgt. Quintin M. Merecido Hospital at the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Davao, allegedly shot the victim seven times following a heated altercation at Lugar Café and Bar.
Pepino is the son of the late Major Gen. Marvin Manuel Pepino, who served as director of the Cybercrime Investigation Office of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.