The Catanduanes Tribune


Vol. XX No. 47	January 31, 2001	Virac, Catanduanes

Headlines

Major Developments

The Catanduanes Tribune

Rawis, Virac

Catanduanes,

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Major Developments

Jailed for 5 years Suspect in brod's murder acquitted

An baca stripper who spent five years in jail for allegedly killing his own brother in Baras was set free by the Regional Trial Court recently.

In his Jan. 16, 2001 decision in Criminal Case No. 2220, RTC Branch 43 Judge Romulo P. Atencia ordered the provincial jail warden to immediately release Felicito Tucay, 43, a resident of Moning, from confinement after clearing the latter for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Tucay was accused of murder for allegedly assaulting his brother Tomas with a sharp, bladed weapon in Pacogon, Carangasan, Baras last February 1, 1995.

Prosecution witness Demetrio Tapia, 50, a farmer of Nagbarorong, told the court that between 9 to 10 A.M. of Feb. 1, 1995, he was in Pacogon hunting wild pig together with his wife and two brothers when, while tracking a pig, he reached the hut of Tomas Tucay. Some 10 meters away, he said he saw Felicito hack the head of the squatting Tomas with a two-feet long bladed instrument. He added that he also saw another person standing near the victim.

Tapia testified that he immediately left the scene and rejoined his companions but never mentioned the incident to them. It was only that night that he told his wife about what he witnessed. He said he learned about Tomas' death more than a week later and proceeded to inform the victim's son that he saw Felicito hack his father.

On the other hand, Josie Tornilla, a cook's helper during the "pa-siyam" of the deceased, testified that she was resting at the house of the Tucay matriarch at about 11 A.M. when she saw the accused rise from sleep on the downstairs bench and utter the words "Arog palan caini ang nacagadan nin tugang." She said Tucay's widow, her son and son-in-law also heard the statements but they ignored it.

Tucay's widow, Anunciacion, told the court that she came to know about her husband's death only on Feb. 15, 1995 when she visited him in the plantation and saw his cadaver emitting a foul smell. She said that a grudge existed between her husband and Felicito as the latter did not want her to use the plantation property notwithstanding the fact that their sister authorized her husband to cultivate it since 1975. On August 6, 1993, she added, Felicito came to their house and threatened her husband, "Dae ca macatucad sa Pacogon ta tutuktokon taca Manoy. Iyan na pigtaram ko gigibohon ko iyan sa saimo minsan tugang taca. Kaya kitang tigbacon." Anunciacion also said that Felecito immediately left for Manila after the killing.

Testifying for himself, Felicito said on Jan. 19, 1995 he went to Manila and learned only of Tomas' death. He denied having made the utterances as testified to by Tornilla.

However, Magin Tucay, son of the victim, as well as witnesses Danilo Olat and Efren Torrecampo, told the court that Feliito was in Osmena, Baras on January 30, 1995, attending the wake of a retired policeman. The latter even said Tucay did not go home and was still there in the morning.

In clearing Tucay of the crime, Judge Atencia said Tapia's testimony raised disquieting questions. The court found it "incredible" that he did not stay a moment longer near Tomas' plantation to find out what would transpire, considering that he was in no imminent danger. "It is more incredible that this witness, upon joining his wife and two brothers by the riverbank, never breathed a word to them about what he saw," Judge Atencia said, adding that it was an unsettling act that would ordinarily urge a normal man not to keep it secret.

On the other hand, the court stated, there is no showing that the accused persisted with his threat against his brother. It found as "not very convincing" the testimonies of Tornilla and Tucay that the accused was overheard expressing remorse of conscience. "This is much too melodramatic to be within the ordinary experience of mankind," Atencia stressed, as a felon usually confides to a person whom he can trust and not to all and sundry.

Assuming that it was shown that the accused was in Baras from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 1995, the court said, Tucay's alibi was not totally destroyed as witness Torrecampo declared that Tucay was in Rodulfo's wake in the morning of Feb. 1.

The Court said it cannot be morally certain of Tucay's guilt. While alibi is a very weak defense, especially as the accused was positively identified as the perpetrator, it emphasized, there are several circumstances which cast clouds of doubt upon the veracity of the eyewitness' testimony.