MANILA, Philippines – An employee of the Department of Education has been convicted of animal cruelty for helping his brother beat a neighbor’s dog with a baseball bat.
The complaint against Mel Reyes, resident of Tondo and administrative aide at the DepEd division of Manila, was earlier dismissed but volunteer lawyers of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) appealed the decision, maintaining that he was an accomplice to the crime.
A witness had captured a video of Reyes holding the leash while his brother Edgardo repeatedly hit the dog with a stainless steel baseball bat. Edgardo was also convicted last year of violating Section 6 of Republic Act No. 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998.
The Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 21 on Tuesday meted out a penalty of P1,000, the minimum fine in the old Animal Welfare Act as the beating happened before the law was amended.
The penalty might be a slap on the wrist, but Anna Cabrera, president of PAWS, said, “we will take what victory we can get. What’s important is that we can show that people can be prosecuted for abusing animals.”
The mauling happened on August 19, 2012, when the mother of the accused complained of being bitten by Blackie, the dog owned by Norma Eustaquio.
Prosecution witnesses said Reyes came back carrying a baseball bat and accompanied by his brother Edgardo. Reyes hit the dog first before handing the bat to Edgardo. The witness was able to record the mauling only at the point when Edgardo was holding the bat.
The brothers only left when the dog had stopped moving. “(Reyes) was even shown covering the dog with what appeared to be a mat after the dog was left motionless. Edgardo hit the covered dog one last time before walking away calmly with the accused,” the court decision said.
The dog was apparently still alive and was treated for eyeball dislocation at the Philippine Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
In his defense, Reyes said he was holding the leash to prevent his brother from hitting the dog and denied that he provided the baseball bat.
But the court deemed, based on the video, that the accused was holding the leash as an act of assistance.
“The court is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of the offense charged,” the decision said.
“While it is true that the dog may have bitten the mother of the accused, it was no excuse for him to take revenge on the dog … he could have availed of other remedies not contrary to law,” Judge Ana Teresa Cornejo-Tomacruz said in the decision. “The violence inflicted upon the dog was an unnecessary act of cruelty that has no place in a civilized society.”