THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Calbayog City has allowed the nine police officers charged for the murder of Calbayog Mayor Ronaldo Aquino and three others in March 2021 to post bail.
In a resolution issued Tuesday March 7, Calbayog RTC Judge Maricar Lucero cited the prosecution’s “failure to establish strong and convincing evidence of guilt” for the crime of murder as basis for granting the bail plea of the accused.
Allowed to post bail were accused Police Lt. Col Harry Villar Sucayre, team leader of the Philippine National Police–Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP–IMEG), Major Shyrile Co Tan, Capt. Dino Laurente Goles, Lt. Julio Salcedo Armeza Jr., Staff Sergeant Sgts. (SSgt.) Neil Matarum Cebu, Edsel Tan Omega and Randy Caones Merelos, Patrolman Niño Cuadra Salem, and Corporal Julius Udtujan Garcia.
The trial court set the bail amount for the accused at P120,000 each.
“It is worthy to note that bail is not granted to prevent the accused from committing additional crimes. The purpose of bail is to guarantee the appearance of the accused at the trial, or whenever so required by the trial court,” the RTC said.
“Thus, bail acts as a reconciling mechanism both to accommodate the accused’s interest in his provisional liberty before or during the trial, and the society’s interest in assuring the accused’s presence in the trial,” the court added.
Aside from Aquino, also killed were his security escort identified as Police SSgt. Rodeo B. Sario, driver Dennis Abayon and passerby Clint John Paul Yauder. Another aide identified as Mansfield F. Labonite survived.
The filing of the charges against the nine police officers was recommended by a panel of prosecutors of the DOJ after the conduct of preliminary investigation.