The 12 suspects who were arrested in Dumaguete for allegedly using fake access device cards a few weeks ago are still in jail as issues on legalities on the posting of bail and their credentials continue.
Bail hearing of the suspects in the estafa case filed against them for using counterfeit credit cards in their transactions with a local hotel continues to give all the parties concerned to present evidences.
Atty. Freddie Hermosa, who represented the suspects since the filing of the information before the City Prosecutor’s Office, said Thursday he has presented to the court all the evidences such as identification cards and birth certificates of the suspects, but that these have yet to be validated by the National Bureau of Investigation.
An NBI agent present during the latest bail hearing this week said the local NBI office awaits an order from NBI-Manila to authorize them to go to Pasay for an in-depth investigation.
According to Atty. Hermosa, four of the 12 suspects have been able to present their genuine legal names that match with their birth certificates. They were identified in the complaint as Alpha Christian Villanueva, Rey Lester Lizardo, Jonathan Dabalos Adajar, and Bernardo Saragina, the driver, while the fifth mentioned in the charge sheet, a certain ‘Erickson Raymundo’, was also positively identified as Roberto San Pedro Consul Jr.
Consul is allegedly the live-in partner of April Love Bien who was shot dead along with Meagan Noble in Dumaguete City by unidentified suspects, shortly after the arrest of the 12 men.
The five would have been bailed out, but the Presiding Judge would not allow a piecemeal amendment.
Hermosa said he was surprised that even after he had presented all the evidences for the 12 accused and represented them in court, all 11 suspects, except Consul, had hired the services of another lawyer, Anthony Isidro Bayawa, as their legal counsel, without first settling their financial obligations to him.
Regional Trial Court Judge Cenon Voltaire Repollo gave the prosecution time to present evidence next week if they agree with the authenticity of the identification cards and the birth certificates presented.
As to the first bail that was paid for nine of the 12 accused, Atty. Hermosa said they might not be able to make use of it anymore as they could not recover the official receipts, believed to be in the bag of Noble that was carted away by the suspects who shot and killed the girls.
The court is expected to set a bigger bail bond for the 12 suspects for lying before the court two times, first before the Assisting Judge, and second, before the Presiding Judge himself.
It will be recalled that nine of the 12 would have bailed out after the information was filed in court two weeks ago but the two women who had paid the bail told the Assisting Judge their identification cards are fake, prompting the court to order them to present authentic identification cards and their real names.
A few days later, the two women were killed in broad daylight while on board a tricycle.
A lawyer from Manila appeared during the next scheduled hearing at RTC Branch 38, and identified himself as “Atty. William delos Santos”, bringing the identification cards of nine out of the 12 suspects who are currently detained.
It was later discovered by the court that delos Santos has a pending suspension order from the Supreme Court. When asked to produce an Order lifting the suspension, he could not present one, and so was not allowed by the court to represent the 12 suspects.
The court noted that delos Santos did not affix his signatures in the pleadings, but that Atty Freddie Hermosa did. (Juancho Gallarde)
