In his 35-page decision Judge Eleuterio Bathan of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 92 acquitted Jovel Entote, 43, who cried and embraced his lawyers on hearing the verdict, on the ground of reasonable doubt and ordered his immediate release from detention.
He was accused of stealing on April 9, 2009 a white Toyota Grandia van from the parking area of the Santa Maria della Strada Parish Church, at the corner of Katipunan Avenue and CP Garcia Avenue in Barangay Pansol and of shooting to death driver Rodolfo Petalino in the process.
Ironically, Entote wore a yellow Armani Exchange shirt to Thursday promulgation, the same description of shirt that highlighted the inconsistencies in the eyewitnesses’ statements.
The judge noted that while one parking attendant said he saw the killer of Rodolfo Petalino wearing a yellow collared shirt, another claimed that the shooter wore a black jacket and a ballcap. The two parking attendants were teenagers at the time of the crime.
Bathan said, “There is a scintilla of doubt in the mind of the court whether it was accused Jovel Entote the same person who shot Rodolfo Sambayon Petalino and thereafter took the Toyota Grandia…. To the mind of the court, Joseph and Daniel (the witnesses) failed to identify accused Jovel Entote with moral certainty as the same person who shot Rodolfo Sambayon Petalino and thereafter took the Toyota Grandia.”
He added, “The identification of accused as the perpetrator of the crime could in no way be considered as positive and credible…. Besides, Joseph and Daniel’s testimonies are tainted with incredibility.”
Bathan explained that the witnesses’ testimonies were not credible based on other details that they erroneously testified to in court, particularly when they said that the police investigator who had initially taken their sworn statements on April 10, 2009 used a typewriter.
When the portion about the witnesses’ incredibility was read, an emotional Entote started sobbing and embracing his lawyers.
Likewise the judge said that when a Toyota Grandia, which was concluded to have been the same van stolen from Petalino, was recovered on October 28 last year in Bacolod City it was not Entote on the driver’s seat.
Bathan observed further that the prosecution’s presentation of circumstantial evidence to establish Entote’s guilt was insufficient to convict him for the death of Petalino and the theft of the van. “While it is true that there are series or chain of circumstances proving that there was defacing and/or tampering in the engine/ serial and chassis number of Toyota Super Grandia… the identity of the accused with moral certainty is doubtful.”
Moral certainty, the judge said, is that degree of proof which produces conviction in an unprejudiced mind.
He concluded, “Thus, relying on these circumstances, this court cannot render a verdict of conviction against the accused.”
“While the rule of long-standing is that alibi is a weak defense,” Bathan added, “it is an equally enduring rule that the prosecution must rely on the strength of its evidence rather than on the weakness of that of the defense. In this case, the court is not convinced that the prosecution has demonstrated the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.”
Arsenio Evangelista, the father of Venson Evangelista who was killed by car thieves in January last year, expressed dismay at the decision.
Evangelista, who is a member of the Volunteers against Carnappers, which in turn is part of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, and attended Thursday’s promulgation of sentence, told reporters, “We were hoping for a conviction but then we still have legal remedies for this.”
He added, “It does not mean that when someone is acquitted, he is innocent. It (charge) just was not proven beyond reasonable doubt. We think alibi is a very weak defense.” Evangelista was referring to Entote’s defense that he was in Boracay with his family at the time the car theft and killing happened.
He said there was nobody to blame for the acquittal and everybody involved in the prosecution pitched in. “It just so happened that it was how the Judge appreciated the facts.”
“We lost the first round but we might be able to recover in the second round,” Evangelista said.
The prosecution panel, led by Senior State Prosecutor Rosanne Balauag, vowed to file a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals questioning the decision of Judge Bathan.
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) executive director Chief Supt. Reginald Villasanta said in a statement that Entote’s acquittal was a big but temporary setback in the government’s fight against organized criminal groups.
Villasanta maintained the prosecution had a solid case with the presentation of 15 credible witnesses against Entote’s two witnesses.
Nevertheless, he said, “This will not deter us from carrying out our mandate to run after crime syndicates and bring those criminals to the bar of justice. There will be no let up in the fight against organized crimes.”
The Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) had described Entote, a car trader in Cebu Province, as the alleged grandfather of car theft syndicates actively operating in Metro Manila when he was arrested in August.
Police say he was involved in at least 60 car thefts and is called “godfather of car theft syndicates” because he allegedly finances their operations.