The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction of the five people accused of killing former Colonel Rolando Abadilla back in June 1996. Abadilla was shot in broad daylight along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. The so-called Abadilla 5 – Joel de Jesus, Lenido Lumanog, Rameses de Jesus, Cesar Fortuna and Augusto Santos - had earlier insisted on their innocence and filed a motion for reconsideration with the SC. The five claimed that they were tortured by the police officers who arrested them.

According to SC administrator Jose Midas Marquez however, the SC’s final decision was based on the sole witness testimony of security guard Freddie Alejo pegging the five to the murder. Nine of the justices voted to junk the appeal to acquit the five, with four others dissenting, and two others taking no part in the vote.

When asked whether the court had considered the recent Ombudsman recommendation to file charges against the police officers who allegedly tortured the Abadilla 5, Marquez said that “the Court only decides its cases based on what's filed.”

"I don't know if they filed a manifestation. Perhaps that issue should have been brought to the Court and properly filed," he added.

Earlier last month, the Office of the Ombudsman filed before the Sandiganbayan criminal complaints against the policemen who allegedly tortured the five, saying that the police unlawfully arrested the suspects, maltreated and inflicted bodily injuries upon them. The policemen also failed to have the suspects assisted by counsel and did not advise them of their rights, including their right to have counsel of their own choice, the Ombudsman added. In addition, the suspects were not allowed visits or conferences with their immediate families during their period of detention.

Responding to questions about the Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB) which had reportedly claimed responsibility for the killing, Marquez said that no such affidavit was presented at the trial stage, and ABB members were not also presented before the trial court. Activist priest and supporter of the Abadilla 5 Fr. Robert Reyes had earlier said that the ABB - the urban hit squad of the New People's Army (NPA) - and not the five were responsible for the killing.

"It was only relayed to him, so that's hearsay already," said Marquez. The Abadilla 5 were originally found guilty for the crime back in 1999 by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

The five raised the decision to the Court of Appeals (CA), but the appellate court affirmed their conviction in April 2008. They then elevated the matter to the Supreme Court, which handed down its original decision finding the five guilty back in September last year. Marquez said that the SC decision is now final.

"[The motion for reconsideration] has been denied with finality, and jurisprudence says that second motions for reconsideration are prohibited pleadings," he said.