Ella Joy Pique murder case: Court allows prosecution to present five more witnesses

CEBU, Philippines - In the interest of justice, Judge Ester Veloso of Regional Trial Court Branch 6 allowed the prosecution to present additional five witnesses despite the opposition of the camp of Bella Ruby Santos, accused with kidnapping with homicide.

Defense lawyers Rameses Villagonzalo and Julius Caesar Entise told the court that there was a standing agreement between the parties that Police Senior Inspector Leonedes Cagul, head of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) will be the last witness for the prosecution.

However, private prosecutor Inocencio dela Cerna asked the court to allow them to present additional witnesses to bolster their case.

“We beg this Honorable Court to allow us. What the court stated in the motion (granting Santos to post bail due to the insufficiency of evidence)…is alarming,” he said.

Veloso earlier granted the petition for bail filed by Santos due to the insufficiency of evidence adding “the crucial moment, between the time the child was taken and the time her body was found, remain a mystery.”

Dela Cerna however, countered that they can present evidence to prove the same -- the whereabouts of the victim, Ellah Joy Pique, after the kidnapping and before she died.

Lawyer Noemi Abarientos of the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB), one of the members of the prosecution said they wanted to establish that the motive for the abduction was pornography.

To support it, she said they have footage and videos recovered from the house of the accused in barangay Inayagan, Naga City during the implementation of the search warrant.

Abarintos said in 2011 they filed a complaint before the Prosecutor’s Office against the accused for violation of Republic Act 9775 or Anti-Child Pornography Act but it was dismissed.

Earlier, Naga City Prosecutor Napoleon Alburo claimed that the compact disc covered with naked pictures of minors seized by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) from Santos’ house on March 4, 2011 was inadmissible as evidence.

Alburo said the search warrant applied by the CIDG was for kidnapping with homicide and not for anti-pornography, adding that even if he elevates the case, the judge will probably dismiss it.

The CLB, however, said the evidence was seen in plain view during the implementation of the warrant and the possession was considered a crime.

Moreover, Abarientos said although no picture of Ellah Joy was recovered during the raid, the motive of pornography was there based on the pornographic materials the CIDG seized.

The additional witnesses to be presented in court are the barangay captain of Inayagan, one of the members of CIDG team who conducted the search, and two others.

Witness

Cagul testified yesterday that on Feb. 9, 2011, he received a call from the Barili Police Station which said a body was found in Sayaw Beach.

Under his supervision, he said they proceeded to the area and arrived before or after 9:00 a.m. at Sayaw Beach in Barili.

“Upon our arrival, we saw that the crime scene was already cordoned. Therein we took photographs, made the markings and sketch as part of the processing in the crime scene. We also retrieved a body wrapped in a yellow blanket,” he said. — Mylen P. Manto

Cagul said the SOCO team did not unwrap the blanket in the area because of the presence of many people instead brought the body to a funeral parlor in Ronda.

At first, he said they were not able to identify the victim because there was no identification but later was identified as Ellah Joy Pique after a man (Renante Pique) arrived and claimed to be the father of the girl. (FREEMAN)