De Lima hits ruling to exclude testimony of dead witness

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. Nestor Corrales/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday branded as bad precedent the decision of a Quezon City court to exclude the testimony of a dead witness in a case against alleged leaders of a carnapping syndicate.

“The decision is a very bad precedent, very unjust and improper…This decision will only encourage criminals to kill witnesses,” De Lima said, referring to the decision by the QC Regional Trial Court on the testimony of Alfred Mendiola.

Mendiola was a state witness in a case filed against alleged carnapping syndicate leaders Roger Dominguez and his brother, Raymond.

The Dominguez brothers had been arrested and charged with the murder of car dealer Venson Evangelista in January 2011.

Mendiola was originally tagged as a suspect in the Evangelista slay case but turned state witness against the Dominguez brothers.

In May 2012, Mendiola’s body was found in Dasmariñas, Cavite, with bullet wounds in the head. Ryan Dominguez, a younger brother of the accused, and three others had been slapped with murder charges in 2012 in connection with the killing of Mendiola.

In a recent decision of the RTC, the court ruled to strike out from the records of the case the testimony of Mendiola because he could no longer be presented in court.

The Department of Justice has filed a motion for reconsideration on the RTC decision.

De Lima said she hoped that the judge would take a second hard look on this motion.