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Mendez 2002
Facts
This is an appeal (automatic review) from the decision of the RTC of
Laoang, Northern Samar, finding accused-appellants Renante
Mendez and Rene Baby Cabagtong guilty of rape with homicide
and sentencing each of them to death and to indemnify the heirs of
victim Candy Dolim in the amount of P100k as damages. Because the
record of the case is replete with numerous instances of procedural
and evidentiary lapses, the Court reversed the judgment of the trail
court and acquitted the accused-appellants on the basis of reasonable
doubt.
The case began with the filing of an information by Prosecutor
Napoleon C. Lagrimas on March 5, 1997, to which appellants
pleaded not guilty. The prosecution presented 6 witnesses: Rico
Dolim, Aurea Cabagtong, Ronnie Cabagtong, SPO2 Noli Cernio,
Zosimo Mager Mejica and Dr. Santiago M. Engo.
Rico Dolim Rico is the father of Candy. He was estranged from his
wife at the time of the incident, and Candy lived with him.
o He testified that on the morning of December 8, 1996, Candy
(13 years old) left to collect bets on the PBA ending games
from the local residents. When she did not return home that
evening, Rico asked his father Ambrosio and daughter Jinky
to look for Candy, but they did not find her. Information that
Candy was in Manapas with her mother proved wrong.
o On December 12, word reached Rico that a young girl was
found dead in Sitio Tiotogasan. Rico then went to the place
and identified the girl to be Candy, with her panty and
shorts hanging from an ankle and her shirt rolled up to her
throat. She had wounds in different parts of her body.
o Rico sought the help of the police and Barangay Captain
Pedro Gomba. He heard that a certain Ronnie Cabagtong
was involved in the killing of his daughter, so he filed a
complaint against Ronnie, who was then investigated by the
police.
o While Ronnie was under investigation at the police
headquarters, his mother Aurea Cabagtong came to the
station and spoke with Rico, telling him that she knew what
actually happened and offering to be a witness. She pointed
These procedural lapses clearly indicate that the police had shut its
mind off to the possibility that other parties might have committed
the crime.