MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) yesterday lauded the conviction of a Korean national who was found guilty of killing a dog in Malate, Manila in March.
Jung Seongho was sentenced to two years in prison by a Manila court and ordered to pay a fine of P100,000.
PAWS executive director Ana Cabrera said they were able to obtain justice for the dog Erica, who was stabbed four times by Jung.
Cabrera thanked Judge Peter Steve Lim of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 3, the prosecutor who handled the case, police and the witnesses.
“Animal cruelty has no place in a civilized society. The fact that it was committed by a foreigner who acted as if he could get away with the crime just because it was an aspin (asong Pinoy) made us mad,” Cabrera said.
In a decision dated Nov. 12, the court found Jung guilty of violating Section 9 of Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Law, as amended by RA 10631.
“The prosecution was able to prove that it was the Korean, armed with a kitchen knife he grabbed from the kitchen of the restaurant owned by the private complainant Willima Kenji Lim, who charged toward Erica and stabbed the dog several times causing the canine’s death,” the decision read.
The prosecutors proved that “at the very point of infliction of mortal wound upon the canine, the puppy never exhibited antagonistic stance against the attacker.”
“The infliction of four stab wounds upon the two-year-old canine is clearly an act of cruelty,” the court said.
Erica was a pet of the employees of Super Six Grill House in Malate, Manila.
Angelo Bueno, one of the waiters, told the court that at 4:10 a.m. of March 9, the Korean sought their help because a dog bit him.
Bueno said they attended to Jung and cleaned his wounds.
After a few minutes, Jung went out of the kitchen, took a knife and stabbed Erica to death.
It was later found that the dog that bit the Korean, while the same color as Erica, was a different canine.