Court clears man from abduction

CEBU, Philippines -  The Regional Trial Court acquitted a businessman from a charge of abduction after the prosecution failed to prove his guilt.

RTC Branch 56 Judge Teresita Galanida, in her seven-page decision, said the prosecution failed to establish that accused Reswin Bihag employed force or intimidation on his neighbor Generita Gabayeron.

“In the instant case, private complainant Generita Gabayeron herself categorically testified that she was the first to board the motorcycle of Reswin when the latter allegedly told her to do so. Nowhere in her testimony, nor in the testimony of her witness, Inesita (Gaite), did they allege that Reswin employed force or intimidation,” the decision reads.

Gabayeron said that at about 5 a.m. on December 20, 2000, while she and Gaite were walking towards the main road, Bihag, a resident of Cabangahan, Consolacion town, arrived on his motorcycle and told her to get onboard.

Gabayeron said that she got on the motorcycle first and was followed by Gaite. Gaite, however, found out that her wallet was left in their house and alighted from the motorcycle.

The complainant said Bihag then sped off towards Barangay Pit-os, Cebu City and instead of dropping her off in Talamban as what she had told him, the accused brought her to a motel  in Mandaue City.

While entering the motel gate, she said Bihag shouted “room, room.” When the motorcycle  slowed  down, she allegedly jumped at the left side of the motorcycle and ran towards a group of people.

The motel guard, she said, offered to bring her to the police station but she declined as she did not trust him and continued to sit together with the people around.

Gabayeron further narrated that Bihag approached her, held her hands, and dragged her towards the motorcycle, but she did not ride on it. She allegedly boarded a taxi after the accused went out of the premises.

Bihag, for his part, said that he knew the complainant for about 10 to 12 years since she got married and resided in Cabangahan.

He denied having forcibly abducted her to the motel.

He said that upon reaching the motel, Gabayeron told him that somebody was inside who was an acquaintance of her husband, which prompted her to alight from the motorcycle.

During cross-examination, Bihag claimed that he had an “illicit relationship” with the complainant and that prior to December 20, they had an agreement that they would go together. He added that Gabayeron did not jump from the motorcycle.

With the foregoing facts, Galanida said the prosecution failed to establish that in going to the motel, Bihag employed force or intimidation on the complainant.

Galanida added that Gabayeron did not “lift a finger” to rebut Bihag’s testimony that they had an illicit relationship. Neither did she rebut when he said that it was her who initiated to ride on his motorcycle and disembark upon reaching the motel because she saw an acquaintance of her husband.

Thus, the judge ruled in favor of the accused.

“Wherefore, with the foregoing as backdrop, the court has no recourse but to acquit the accused for failure of the prosecution to prove the elements of the crime charged beyond reasonable doubt,” the decision reads.  (FREEMAN)