Now that she’s in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation, defense lawyers of Bella Ruby Santos said they will try to secure her temporary release on bail.
“We are ready for trial. We are confident we have a strong case and that the prosecution cannot prove the guilt of Bella Ruby. That’s why we plan to apply for bail,” lawyer Julius Caesar Entice told Cebu Daily News.
Whether the judge would grant Santos bail, after she dodged an arrest warrant for nearly three months, remains to be seen.
Judge Ester Veloso of the Regional Trial court Branch 5 would have to be convinced that the 35-year-old woman, who cut her hair short and got tattoos on her legs to disguise her appearance, is not a flight risk.
Otherwise, Santos would have to wait out the trial in prison, in this case the Cebu provincial jail since the criminal offense took place in Minglanilla town.
Santos, who was arrested Friday afternoon in SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, will be brought back to Cebu on Monday to be presented in court for arraignment and trial.
The charges of kidnapping with homicide for the gruesome death of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last Feb. 8 involves a capital offense with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Under the 1987 Constitution, an accused has the right to bail unless he or she is charged with a capital offense where evidence of guilt is strong.
Santos’ lawyers include Entice, Rameses Villagonzalo, Lyndon Maceren, Ronel Ubod, and Roberto Rublico.
With Santos’ arrest, a lot of curiousity focuses on how the NBI 7 found her and who would eventually receive the P300,000 reward money under the Tipster Program of the Cebu provincial government.
But NBI agent Rennan Oliva said the identity of the informant in Cebu would remain “confidential” for security reasons.
Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda yesterday said the provincial government was pleased with the arrest of Santos.
“Well and good. Her arrest proved that one can’t hide from the hands of the law,” Sepulveda said.
“With her arrest, the trial can start. We leave it to the court to determine whether she is guilty or not.”
The P300,000 reward was annnounced last Sept. 2 by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia as a “special case under the province’s Tipster Program”, after Santos continued to elude arrest despite the best efforts of all police units in Cebu.
Garcia at that time said the reward could be given to “anyone” subject to a set procedure of validation of the evidence.
She wanted to dangle the reward “in support of our PNP” which is a member of the Cebu Provincial Anti-Crime Task force created last year.
Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane, a member of the committee in the Tipster Program, yesterday confirmed it was “not necessary” to reveal the identity of the informant for security purposes.
He said they are still waiting for the report of the NBI-7 regarding Santos’ arrest
He said committee members will confer before they endorse to Gov. Garcia the release of the reward money.
The entire P300,000 amount will go to the private informant after evaluation, he said, and added that law enforcement agencies like the NBI will not have a share of it.
However, Gubalane said the release of the reward money to the informant shall be reported to the public to highlight transparency.
“I congratulate the NBI for the arrest. Now, we can proceed with the legal processes,” Gubalane said.
He said the DOJ is now processing the government-to-government request that will bring British national Ian Charles Griffiths from the United Kingdom to the Philippines.
Provincial police earlier said they also raised P50,000 as a reward for the informant.
The NBI-7 is under the Department of Justice (DOJ) like the prosecutors office.
Lawyer Joan Saniel, executive director of the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB), said they have strong evidence against Santos and Griffiths.
“A petition for bail? This involves a heinous crime. We have to undergo trial. On our side, the evidence of guilt is strong,” Saniel told CDN.
CLB lawyers represent the family of Ellah Joy in the case.
“Of course, we are happy that at least Bella was arrested,” Saniel said.
Among the evidence the prosecution intends to present are eye-witnesses who claimed to have seen the abduction and how the body of Ellah Joy was dumped off a cliff in Barili town.
The lawyer said they are contemplating on placing the witnesses under the DOJ’s witness protection program.
Defense lawyers, on the other hand, maintained that the prosecution has weak evidence against Santos and Griffiths.
“If you were to review the records of the case, you will see that their (prosecution) witnesses came out after the complaint against (Norwegian national) Sven Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon were dismissed,” said defense lawyer Entice.
Berger and Esdrelon were earlier arrested by police in relation to the Ellah Joy’s death.
The charges against them, however, were dismissed by the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office after their alibis checked out.
Berger and Esdrelon managed to prove that they were at the Waterfront Lahug Hotel in Cebu City when Ellah Joy was kidnapped about 16 kilometers away in Minglanilla town.
Unde the rules of court, the prosecution “has the burden of showing that evidence of guilt is strong” to defeat an application for bail.
Under Rule 114 and the 1987 Constitution, bail is a matter of right.
The exception applies to a person accused for an offense punishable by life imprisonment “when evidence of guilty is strong”.
Defense lawyers earlier asked the court to determine whether there is probable cause against the accused and to recall the warrant of arrest issued against Santos and Griffiths.
Their motion was denied.
Entice said they will file a motion for reconsideration.
“We are always hopeful but it all depends on the judge. Every motion that we file, we are hopeful for a positive result,” Entice said.
NBI-7 special investigator Arnel Pura arrested Santos inside the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong last Friday acting on a tip relayed to him by the NBI office in Cebu.
Santos is detained at the stockade of the NBI headquarters stockage in Manila.
The NBI-7 will escort her to Cebu via Cebu Pacific departing Manila at 3:30 pm tomorrow.