G.R. No. 137554 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. JOHN MAMARION, LENY LEYSA (ACQUITTED), JULIET HARISCO, BEBOT DELA ROSA ALIAS "BEBOT VILLAROSA" (ACQUITTED), BENJIE BERNAJE (AT-LARGE); SERGIO MENDOZA ALIAS "BAMBI", ALIAS "SM", ALIAS "FRIDAY" (ACQUITTED), RONALD PORQUEZ (AT-LARGE), ROLANDO V. MACLANG,

Ruling

Accordingly, the trial court rendered a Decision dated May 13, 1997, sentencing Amado Gale as follows: In view of the foregoing, the Court finds the accused Amado Gale, Jr. guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Slight Illegal Detention defined and penalized under Art. 268 of the Revised Penal Code, and taking into consideration the mitigating circumstances of no intention to commit so grave a wrong and voluntary surrender, without any aggravating circumstance, the penalty that should be imposed on the accused is prision mayor in its maximum period. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the accused is sentenced to suffer the penalty of 4 years, 2 months and 1 day of prision correccional as minimum, to 10 years of prision mayor as maximum. [12] On July 7, 1997, accused Villarosa was arraigned and pleaded "not guilty," [13] and trial proceeded with regard to him. Accused Biona was killed some time in October 1997 during an encounter with the military in Metro Manila. [14] Accused Mendoza was arrested on October 6, 1997, [15] and on October 27, 1997, he was arraigned, to which he pleaded "not guilty." [16] The last to be arrested were appellants Maclang and Harisco who were brought to court for arraignment on November 7, 1997 and both pleaded "not guilty." [17] Joint trial was held with regard to these three accused. [18] Based on the evidence presented before it, the trial court made the following findings of facts surrounding the kidnapping for ransom and death of Roberta Cokin: . . . Roberta Cokin, nicknamed Obing, is a rich Filipino-Chinese businesswoman with business interests in Bacolod City and in the province and City of Iloilo. These varied business interest include a grocery store, commercial buildings, real estate and agricultural landholdings. Roberta or "Obing" as she is fondly called, lives together with her only surviving sister, Teresita Cokin, in their house at Mercedes St., in Bacolod City. Both Roberta and Teresita are spinsters. x x x x x x x x x At about 11:45 in the evening of July 15, 1995, Roberta passed by her cockfarm situated in front of the Bacolod City National High School along Libertad Street (now Henares Street) in Bacolod City. She came from the Tangub cockpit where she attended a cockfight and she was alone driving by herself a Toyota Hi-Lux pick-up. Roberta never made it home. A group of armed men came and took away Roberta and her pick-up. On the following morning, Teresita Cokin, Roberta's younger sister, saw the abandoned Hi-Lux pick-up in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral. Later, Teresita received a telephone call from one identifying himself as Bravo, informing her that Roberta was kidnapped and would be released only after a One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00) ransom is paid. Andres Sumpay, the nephew of Roberta Cokin, was at the Cokin grocery early in the morning of July 15, 1995. He was minding the store when he noticed a man pacing the sidewalk in front of the store. The man later identified as