|
Custody
battle of rape witness
decided against complainants
A
CUSTODY BATTLE INVOLVING A witness of the celebrated rape
with homicide that took place in Panglao four years ago was
decided Friday by a regional trial court.
Presiding
Judge Achilles Melicor of RTC Branch 4 ruled that George Galo
alias John Bagobo, a key witness in a rape case that implicated
former Panglao mayor Doloriech Dumaluan and younger brother
Engr. Teofredo "Pingmay"
Dumaluan,
will be transferred from custody of the city detention and
rehabilitation center to Camp Dagohoy.
The
complainants of the Motion to Allow Accused to Remain in the
Custody of the Bohol PNP were the parents of Vivian Dumaluan,
victim of the gruesome rape with homicide case.
Galo
was convicted by the same court of robbery with force upon
things and sentenced to an imprisonment ranging from four
years, two months and one day as minimum to seven years four
months and one day as maximum.
|
|
|
The
judgment of conviction was affirmed by the Court of
Appeals.
When
Galo appeared during the preliminary investigation of
the rape case involving the younger brother of the former
mayor last February 28, two policemen from Cebu appeared
from behind and threaten to serve the warrant for his
arrest.
The
timely intervention of complainants' lawyer aborted
the serving of the warrant. Lawyer Manuelita Mascarinas
filed the motion for Galo to remain in PNP custody.
|
In
denying the motion filed by Mascarinas, Judge Melicor said
given the issues raised and the arguments adduced by the movants,
the court found no valid and compelling reason to grant the
instant motion.
The
court anchored its ruling on the following established facts:
1. The alleged threat on the life of convicted offender Galo
was not supported by convincing and positive evidence of the
movants through the testimonies of their five witnesses.
2.
Considering that the Bohol Provincial Police Office detention
center can accommodate only one person, as testified by Provincial
Director Edgardo Ingking, it is not the proper facility to
house or detain sentenced prisoner Galo because such detention
center is not designated by law to confine or detain sentenced
prisoners. In the case of Galo, the penal institution where
he should be contained/detained is in the New Bilibid Prisons
at Muntinglupa.
3.
Ironically, the movant-spouses have no personality to file
the instant motion because they are not parties to the instant
case and, more importantly, their lives were not the ones
threatened.
4.
The Tagbilaran City District Jail where prisoner Galo is presently
detained is the proper facility for his detention pending
his shipment/transfer to the New Bilibid Prisons where he
should serve his sentence.
During
the hearing of the motion, lawyer Aleck Francis Lim appeared
as an oppositor to the motion. According to him," his
appearance in this incident as lawyer/oppositor was only to
make sure that no preferential and or special treatment will
be given to a convicted felon". Lim is one of the lawyers
of Engr. Dumaluan in rape with homicide case pending before
the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Bohol.
|
