THE Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City to proceed with the trial of the criminal case filed against five members of Tau Gamma Phi Fratenity who were among those blamed for the fatal hazing of College of Saint Benilde student Guillo Cesar Servando four years ago.
In a 25-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, the CA’s Special Fifth Division nullified the orders issued by the Makati RTC Branch 57 Presiding Judge Honorio Guanlao on December 22, 2015 and February 19, 2016. The first order dismissed the complaint for violation of Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law filed against the respondents and the second order denied the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration.
The appellate court held that Judge Guanlao hastily dismissed the case after the prosecution failed to present its witnesses on the dates provided by the court during the pre-trial stage of the case.
The trial court junked the case, citing the respondents’ right to speedy trial under the Speedy Trial Act of 1998 and the guidelines provided by the Supreme Court for decongesting holding jails by enforcing the rights of accused persons to bail and speedy trial.
“While courts recognize the accused’s right to speedy trial and adheres to a policy of speedy administration of justice, the State may not be deprived of a reasonable opportunity to fairly prosecute criminals,” the CA said.
“The Supreme Court has invariably held that delay per se does not offend one’s right to speedy trial. It is the unjustified delay which does,” it added.
Based on the records of the case, the first hearing was set on December 10, 2015, where the eight prosecution witnesses did not appear.
On the same day, the trial court sent out notices to the prosecution witnesses requiring them to explain their absence during the first scheduled hearing date.
During the second scheduled hearing on December 15, 2015, again the prosecution witnesses did not show up, prompting the prosecution to move for issuance of warrants against them.
However, the motion was denied by the judge for being premature since there were no returns yet on the earlier notices to explain that were sent out to the witnesses.
Thus, the prosecution was surprised when, at the third scheduled hearing on December 17, 2015, the trial court granted the defense’s motion to dismiss, citing as ground respondents’ right to speedy trial.
The dismissal came even as the court had yet to receive the returns on its notices to explain.
“Indeed, the present case is peculiar in itself. As stated, the three settings in question were only a few days apart from each other and clustered all within a week’s time,” the Court noted.
“How can there be denial of private respondents’ right to speedy trial when we only speak of no more than seven days of supposed delay and when the witnesses concerned were not even shown to have received the earlier notices to explain sent out to them by the trial court,” it stressed.
Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Ramon Cruz and Luisa Quijano-Padilla.
Servando, of the College of St. Benilde, died after the Tau Gamma conducted initiation rites in June 2014 at One Archer’s Place Condominium.
The respondents – Daniel Paul Martin Bautista, Vic Angelo Dy, Michael David Castaneda, Francisco Joel Villegas, and Justin Francis Reyes were some of the members who participated in the hazing rites.
A video footage from the CCTV of the condominium showed Guillo collapsing along the hallway and being carried away by fraternitymembers.
Following an investigation, the NBI filed a complaint for violation of R.A. 8049 against 20 Tau Gamma fraternity members, including the respondents.