A.M. No. 93-9-741-0

Ruling

accordingly, dismissed the case as to him. Judge Baldo claimed that Corcolon had said in the preliminary investigation that his statement had been extracted through torture and that, in fact, in an earlier statement made on July 12, 1993, Corcolon made no mention of Judge Baldos alleged involvement in the case. Judge Baldo submitted the affidavit dated July 30, 1993 of Chief Inspector Robin M. Caño of the Laguna PNP Command, denying that Judge Baldo had ordered him or his men to wash the vehicle. The statement of PO1 Arnulfo Umali was also submitted. Umali stated that he was the front guard and jailer of the station on June 29, 1993; that when Judge Baldo left for lunch on that day, the bodies of the victims were still inside the van, but, in the afternoon, after returning from lunch and finding that the van had been cleaned, Judge Baldo got angry, even as he ordered a detention prisoner to remove the blood that had accumulated in the gutter. Manolito H. Replan, an errand boy in the Calauan police station, said in his affidavit that he was at the station the whole day on June 29, 1993 but he never saw Judge Baldo or Luis Corcolon inside or anywhere near the police station. On November 11, 1993, Judge Baldo submitted the sinumpaang salaysay of Arnold Barredo, another detention prisoner, who claimed it was he who had cleaned the van and who was later asked by Judge Baldo to clean the gutter of blood. Barredo stated that Judge Baldo did not ask him to wash the van of blood, that when he cleaned it at 1 p.m., Judge Baldo was not present, the latter having left earlier for lunch, and that when Judge Baldo returned, he (Barredo) had already finished cleaning the vehicle. The case was referred to Executive Judge Norberto Y. Geraldez of the Regional Trial Court of Calamba, Laguna for investigation. In the investigation, Chief Inspector Robin Caño, PO1 Arnulfo Umali and Manolito Replan affirmed their affidavits absolving Judge Baldo of responsibility for the cleaning of the van on June 29, 1993. On the other hand, Luis Corcolon, on October 3, 1995, executed a statement at the National Bilibid Prison, where he was detained, retracting his July 28, 1993 statement. Corcolon claimed he had been tortured and forced to make the statement by agents of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission. On January 22, 1996, Judge Geraldez submitted his report, recommending that the complaint against Judge Baldo be dismissed. The case was, however, returned to Judge Geraldez with a directive to him to examine the witnesses presented by Judge Baldo. Accordingly, Judge Geraldez summoned the witnesses to a hearing. At the hearing held on September 18, 1996, Luis Corcolon reiterated his claim that he had been tortured to make him sign the July 28, 1993 statement. He identified a certain Col. Paclivar of the PACC and a Mayor Aquino as the persons who had allegedly forced him to sign the statement in question. [3] He denied that he had been assisted by counsel at the PACC invest