of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

“
the international
community is
closely
monitoring the
situation and will
hold the
Department of
Justice
accountable for
failure to act to
prevent further loss
of life....
—Joshua Goldberg,
Canada”
and get help from his brothers. After several minutes the gunfire
stopped and he pretended to be dead when the soldiers came to
check him.
According to Rogelio, the soldiers then cooked the fish and
frogs that they had caught themselves, and he overheard
somebody say, “We will charge this guy with being New People’s
Army.” Another said, “We will finish him off,” but a further soldier
said that he was already dead.
Sensing that the soldiers were busy eating, Rogelio slowly
crawled to the riverbank to get into some grass for cover. After
several minutes, the military noticed that he had disappeared
and they searched the area but did not find him. They left after
several minutes. Rogelio then crawled back to the place of
incident so that his family could locate him.
Meanwhile, Ricky had run to get help from his uncle, Richard,
who immediately left the house to rescue his brother. But Richard
did not reach Rogelio, as he was met with bullets. Three of
Richard’s brothers also tried to retreat when they met gunfire,
but were shot dead.
At hospital it was found that Rogelio had 12 gunshot wounds,
but only four bullets had penetrated: two in his back, one in his
left side and one in his lower left. Ricky sustained 11 gunshot
wounds, but only two bullets penetrated: one in the lower left leg
and one in the left side of his body. He was brought to hospital by
his grandmother. Richard was hit 13 times, but only two bullets
penetrated, including one in his left shoulder, which exited from
his armpit.
On 18 February 2005 the survivors of the attack, Richard,
Rogelio and Ricky, were themselves charged with attempted
murder at the Municipal Circuit Trial Court III in Padada-
Kiblawan, Davao del Sur, after the army claimed that the were
fired upon after they ambushed its troops. The case was dismissed
for lack of evidence; however, the judge recommended a charge
of rebellion be filed against the accused instead, which was
subsequently done at Regional Trial Court 20 in Digos City. On
21 March 2006 the judge presiding over the pre-trial hearings
on the charge of rebellion ordered the prosecutor to have the
case reinvestigated, and on March 31 the prosecutor
recommended that this charge also be dropped for lack of evidence.
On April 24 the judge finally ordered the case dismissed.
Meanwhile, on 7 March 2005 charges were filed with the public
prosecutor in Digos City against two lieutenants and several
others attached to the 25th Infantry Battalion. The prosecutor
finished work on the case on May 21 and forwarded the case file
to the office of the Ombudsman for Military and Other Law
Enforcement Office in Mindanao on June 15. On July 19, that
office forwarded the file to the ombudsman’s headquarters in
Quezon City. Since that time the case has been inactive.
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article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1