THE Court of Appeals has ordered the Makati City Regional Trial Court to proceed with the trial of the criminal case filed against five members of Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity who were responsible for the fatal-hazing of College of Saint Benilde student Guillo Cesar Servando four years ago.
In a 25-page decision, the CA’s Special Fifth Division through Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier nullified and set aside the orders issued by the Makati City RTC Branch 57 Presiding Judge Honorio Guanlao on Dec. 22, 2015 and Feb. 19, 2016 dismissing the complaint for violation of Republic Act 8049 or the Anti-Hazing Law filed against the respondents and denying the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration, respectively.
The CA ruled that Judge Guanlao hastily dismissed the case after the prosecution failed to present its witnesses during the dates provided by the court during the pre-trial stage of the case.
The trial court junked the case citing the respondents’ right to speedy trial under the Speedy Trial Act of 1998 and the guidelines provided by the Supreme Court for decongesting holding jails by enforcing the rights of accused persons to bail and speedy trial.
“While courts recognize the accused’s right to speedy trial and adheres to a policy of speedy administration of justice, the State may not be deprived of a reasonable opportunity to fairly prosecute criminals,” the appellate court stressed.
“The Supreme Court has invariably held that delay per se does not offend one’s right to speedy trial. It is the unjustified delay which does,” it said.
Court records showed that the first hearing was set on Dec. 10, 2015, where the eight prosecution witnesses did not appear.
On the same day, the trial court sent out notices to the prosecution witnesses requiring them to explain their absence during the first scheduled hearing date.
During the second scheduled hearing on Dec. 15, 2015, against the prosecution witnesses did not show up, prompting the prosecution to move for issuance of warrants against them.
But the motion was denied by the judge for being premature since there were no returns yet on the earlier notices to explain sent out to the witnesses.
However, the prosecution was surprised when, during the third scheduled hearing on Dec. 17, 2015, the trial court granted the defense’s motion to dismiss, citing as ground respondents’ right to speedy trial.
The dismissal came even as the court had yet to receive the returns on its notices to explain.
“Indeed, the present case is peculiar in itself. As stated, the three settings in question were only a few days apart from each other and clustered all within a week’s time,” the appellate court said.
“How can there be denial of private respondents’ right to speedy trial when we only speak of no more than seven days of supposed delay and when the witnesses concerned were not even shown to have received the earlier notices to explain sent out to them by the trial court,” it added.
Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Ramon Cruz and Luisa Quijano-Padilla.
Servando, of the College of St. Benilde, died after the Tau Gamma conducted initiation rites in June 2014 at One Archer’s Place Condominium.
The respondents – Daniel Paul Martin Bautista, Vic Angelo Dy, Michael David Castaneda, Francisco Joel Villegas, and Justin Francis Reyes – were some of the members who participated in the hazing rites.
A video footage from the CCTV of the condominium showed Guillo collapsing along the hallway and being carried away by fraternity members.
Following an investigation, the NBI filed a complaint for violation of R.A. 8049 against 20 Tau Gamma fraternity members, including the respondents.