Case Digests

G.R. No.
L-45354 July 26, 1988

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
ALBERT NEWMAN y BECLAR and DIONISIO TOLENTINO y SANTILLAN
Rosita Empio was selling coffee in her store located in Barrio Granada, Bacolod City, a Minica taxi,
bound for Bacolod City, stopped in front of her store. Her attention was attracted by the driver, later
Identified to be Efren Bantillo, who waved at her. When she approached the taxicab, the driver asked
her for help saying that he had been held-up on the other side of the bridge. The driver was
STABBED IN left breast and on the stomach
Newman admitted that he was the one who stabbed the driver. Later, Newman stated that he took
the watch of the victim In the course of the investigation Appellants reenacted the crime.
Photographs taken during the reenactment. After the reenactment, Pat. Iligan took the written
statements of the two accused. Before he took their statements, he informed them of their
constitutional rights to remain silent and assistance of a counsel. Both however admitted that they
knew their rights but were waiving them as they would only tell the truth. They agreed to sign a
waiver of their rights to counsel or to remain silent. APPEAL.
Issue: WON oral and written extra-judicial confessions and the photographs showing the alleged reenactment of the crime, are admissible in evidence?
Held: No
At the time a person is arrested it shall be the duty of the arresting officer to inform him of the reason
for his arrest, and he must be shown the warrant for his arrest, if any. Before his interrogation, he
shall be informed of his constitutional rights to remain silent and to counsel, and that any statement
he might make could be used against him. The person arrested shall have the right to communicate
with his lawyer, a relative or anyone he chooses by the most expedient means by telephone if
possible or by letter or messenger. It shall be the responsibility of the arresting officer to see to it
that this is accomplished. No custodial investigation shall be conducted unless it be in the presence
of counsel engaged by the person arrested, by any person on his behalf, or by the court upon
petition either of the detainee himself or by anyone on his behalf. The right to counsel may be
waived but the waiver shall not be valid unless made in writing and with the assistance of counsel.
Any statement obtained in violation of the foregoing procedure, whether exculpatory or inculpatory,
in whole or in part, shall be inadmissible in evidence.
In the case at bar, the two (2) extrajudicial statements and waivers carry the same quoted prefatory
statement. This, to the mind of the Court, indicates that lack of zeal and initiative on the part of the
investigating officers to fully and truly inform the accused of their rights to remain silent and to counsel
during the custodial investigation. The "informing" done by the police in the case at bar was nothing more
than a superficial and mechanical act, performed not so much to attain the objectives of the fundamental
law, as to give a semblance of compliance therewith. 12 The right of a person under interrogation to be
informed of his rights to remain silent and to counsel, implies a correlative obligation on the part of the
police investigator toexplain and contemplates an effective communication that results in an
understanding of what is conveyed. Short of this, there is a denial of the right, as it cannot truly be said
that the accused has been "informed" of his rights. 13
The record also shows that the interrogations were conducted incommunicado in a policedenominated environment. When appellant Newman gave his confession, his companions in the
room were police officers. And the only people with Tolentino when he "confessed" were also police
investigators. 14 Indeed, the Court is far from certain or satisfied that the waivers of counsel and the
subsequent confessions were indeed voluntary and free.
As to the reenactment of the crime, the Court notes that appellant Dionisio Tolentino testified that he
participated in such reenactment after he was directed to do so by the policemen. Such reenactment
was scripted, to say the least. Besides, pictures reenacting a crime which are based on an
inadmissible confession are themselves inadmissible.
5. People vs. Albofera, 152 SCRA 123 (1987)

FACTS: Sometime in June or July 1980, accused Albofera and 3 others killed Teodoro Carancio a
forester. Rodrigo Esma was at the house of one of the accused but did not participate in the killing.
The matter was later brought to the attention of the authorities by a certain Sisneros and accused
Albofera was arrested. The accused Lawi-an was subsequently arrested.
Albofera executed an extra-judicial confession before the Municipal Circuit Judge. He stated therein
that he was forced to join the NPA movement for fear of his life; that said group had ordered the
arrest of the victim, Carancio, and that the group sentenced him (the victim) to die by stabbing.
Esma testified against the accused during the trial. While in prison, accused Albofera sent a letter to
Esma. Said letter was thereafter introduced as evidence by prosecution. In his letter, accused
Albofera was asking Esma to change his declaration in his Affidavit and testify in his favor instead.
Later the accused were convicted of murder.
ISSUE: Whether the Alboferas letter to Esma should be excluded as evidence in light of alleged
unwarranted intrusion or invasion of the accuseds privacy?
HELD: No. The production of that letter by the prosecution was not the result of an unlawful search
and seizure nor was it through unwarranted intrusion or invasion into Alboferas privacy. Albofera
admitted having sent the letter and it was its recipient, Rodrigo Esma himself, who produced and
identified the same in the course of his testimony in Court. Besides, there is nothing really selfincriminatory in the letter. Albofera mainly pleaded that Esma change his declaration in his Affidavit
and testify in his (Alboferas) favor. Furthermore, nothing Alboferas tated in his letter is being taken
against him in arriving at a determination of his culpability.

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G.R. No.

L-45354 July 26, 1988

5. People vs. Albofera, 152 SCRA 123 (1987)

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