Laputan brothers to remain in jail for another pending case in Carcar

Their acquittal from rape and homicide charges turned out to be not the onset of freedom yet for brothers Maximo and Concordio Laputan, who had to remain in the provincial jail for yet another pending criminal case, as what provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba found yesterday.

When the Laputan brothers yesterday went to the Department of Justice to get their P10,000 award for damages that the Regional Trial Court granted to each of them due to unjust detention, it was found out that they had a pending case for direct assault.

Petralba said this meant they could not be released yet from jail because of the case that Carcar Police chief Teofilo Siclot earlier filed against them at the Municipal Trial Court in Carcar.

RTC judge Raphael Yrastorza Sr last Monday acquitted the Laputan brothers from rape and homicide charges, for lack of evidence, and admonished the Carcar Police and the prosecutors for "hastily" filing the case without enough facts to buttress the accusations.

Maximo was accused of raping and killing his 13 year-old daughter Mylene last year; his brother Concordio was similarly indicted for the crime. But the judge found the evidences insufficient to convict them of the crime, thus their acquittal.

Siclot was not giving up, however, saying his office has been looking for new evidences because it has been contemplating to re-file the case against the two.

Siclot, in an interview over DyLA radio yesterday, said the police would not apologize to the Laputan brothers although he admitted the evidences were lacking and the case was merely anchored on the testimony of a witness, Ronnie Tabora, who turned out to be the third man in the crime.

Petralba, for her part, yesterday filed a manifestation in court to shed light on what transpired before and during the indictment process, as she insisted that her office had done everything on the case.

"It is unfortunate that Maximo and Concordio Laputan were unjustly accused in this case, but this office acted in accordance with evidence before us and cannot be faulted for any negligence in that unfortunate event," Petralba said in her manifestation.

Petralba said her office received the case against the Laputan brothers last September 12, then submitted it for inquest investigation-which is summary in nature-and recommended the filing of the information of the case against them based on the evidence available at the time.

But a few days after the case was filed, the prosecution's witness Tabora admitted to the media and investigators of the Commission on Human Rights that he participated in committing the crime.

That prompted Petralba to call immediately for a case conference with the provincial police director, the Carcar Police and CHR officials. The CHR later obtained from Tabora an extra-judicial confession, which led to the filing of a separate case for rape with homicide against him.

Petralba said her office then filed last January 3 a motion to dismiss the case against the Laputan brothers but which the court did not immediately grant.

Sh e further said that the results of the DNA tests arrived too late because the Carcar Police failed to submit them on time and that she had to subpoena Siclot just to get a copy of the result. - Fred P. Languido and Gregg M. Rubio