Rape-slay case in Moalboal: Provincial fiscal approves filing of charges vs. 4 suspects

The Provincial Prosecutors Office has approved the filing of information for multiple rape with homicide against four suspects in the rape-slay of a 16-year-old girl in sitio Bantayan, barangay Basdiot, Moalboal last April 23.

The four respondents are Joselito "Lito" Tapales, Rene Zasuela, Dindo Tapales, and a certain "Amay" Estorco.

Provincial prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba said she found probable cause to indict the four even if the lone witness, Roger Tapales, recanted his previous testimonies and positive identification of the four suspects to the crime.

Roger, in his affidavit last June 19, swore that he saw the four allegedly raped and killed Juvelyn Maano last April 23 then dumped her body to a pit in the barangay.

Roger made a vivid account of the crime, saying he first heard voices of a man and a woman arguing at about 1am that day. He later identified the man as Lito, who he first mentioned as his relative but denied as such during his recantation.

Roger also narrated that, minutes later, three others arrived and they were Zasuela, Dindo, and Amay. He alleged then that he saw Lito hit the woman who lost consciousness as a result. The four then took turns in raping her then hit her stones and threw her into an open pit.

Maano, whose parents were from Talibon, Bohol, stayed with her grandfather Viviano Dorimon at sitio Bantayan in barangay Basdiot, Moalboal. Dorimon said she left the house at 5pm on April 22 and never came back.

Dorimon was later informed that a girl's body was found in a pit in that sitio on April 30. He identified it as that of Maano.

The four suspects executed their respective counter-affidavits denying that they had been in the place and time when the crime was committed.

Then last August 1, Roger executed an affidavit of recantation, which stated that he was compelled to issue the first affidavit against the suspects, in exchange of dropping his separate case of illegal drugs possession, allegedly upon the persuasion of the Moalboal Police chief.

In his supplemental affidavit last September 18, he alleged that the town policemen harmed him bodily prompting him to submit to their request to pin down the four suspects in the first affidavit.

Petralba, however, issued a 3-page resolution propounding that the recantation or retraction-based on many Supreme Court rulings-should not be given probative value.

She cited the People vs. Logronio case, in which the High Court ruled that retractions "are generallly unreliable and are looked up to with considerable disfavor by the court."

Petralba noted in her resolution that when she subpoenaed Roger last September 25, she found his statements filled with inconsistencies. "From the questions propounded by the undersigned, it appears that said witness has exhibited certain dodginess in answering certain queries," she said.

She was not convinced with Roger's statement that he was guilt-ridden in pinning the four suspects because he executed his recantation two months after his first sworn statement.

She also observed that it was quite surprising why the issue of the rape case arose when Roger sought legal assistance for his drug case.

Petralba emphasized that the case has been subject to public interest, that even in private law firms it has been the subject of discussion.

"With that, as always, we take the vow of impartiality, hoping to devise a means by which to solicit the truth and pinpoint the rascals in this impending real life drama," she said. - Vilma Andales