Parties in car theft case agree on common witness

MANILA, Philippines—In a rare instance, both prosecution and defense lawyers in the Venson Evangelista murder case appealed to a Quezon City court to admit an accused as a star witness against the brothers Roger and Raymond Dominguez.

Accused Alfred Mendiola’s lawyer, Willie Rivera, and the prosecution panel filed separate motions for reconsideration with Judge Ma. Luisa Q. Padilla of Regional Trial Court Branch 215.

Both camps, in their separate pleadings, asked the court to admit Mendiola, a co-accused of the Dominguez brothers, as a witness under the Witness Protection Program.

Rivera even sought a reversal of the court’s order for Mendiola’s arraignment and the striking off of the “not guilty” plea the court had entered on Mendiola’s behalf.

“The accused further prays that an order be issued discharging him as a state witness and order the city prosecutor to exclude and remove him from the criminal information in the interest of substantial justice,” Mendiola’s 11 page appeal read.

Both motions were filed on April 18, more than a week after Mendiola and his fellow accused were arraigned on a charge of car theft with homicide for the death of Evangelista in January 2011.

Mendiola is being eyed as a witness against the Dominguez brothers, the alleged masterminds of the slaying of Evangelista, a car dealer.

The Department of Justice has issued a certification for Mendiola as witness, prompting the prosecution to ask the court to admit him as a witness and remove him from the list of accused.

Aside from Mendiola and the Dominguez brothers, Jason Miranda was also arraigned earlier this month. The Dominguez siblings voluntarily entered a “not guilty” plea while Miranda and Mendiola did not, prompting the court to enter the same plea for them.

Padilla, in a previous hearing, ordered the prosecution to present evidence to prove that Mendiola could be admitted as a state witness against the Dominguezes.

In their appeals, both the prosecution and Rivera cited Republic Act 6981 or the Witness Protection, Benefit and Security Act which allows the DoJ to have the prerogative to admit state witnesses.

Under the said law, a court must order the exclusion of an accused-witness duly certified by the DoJ so that the witness could be utilized during trial.

Assistant city prosecutors Ramoncito Ocampo, Irene Resurrection and Jaime Villanueva noted that under RA 6981, there is no need to present evidence to support their petition to have Mendiola admitted as a witness.

The defense lawyer said Mendiola should not have been arraigned on April 11, saying the same law requires the court to order the city prosecutor to exclude Mendiola from the charge sheet.