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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS
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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 209 -
IMPOSING THE PENALTY OF SIX (6) MONTHS SUSPENSION FROM THE SERVICE
WITHOUT PAY ON SECOND ASSISTANT CITY PROSECUTOR VICTORINO S. ALVARO OF
MANILA
This refers to the administrative complaint
filed motu proprio by the Department of Justice against Manila Second
Assistant City Prosecutor Victorino S. Alvaro for grave misconduct and
conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Records disclose that on December 22, 1922, Prosecutor Alvaro, in his
capacity as Assistant Chief of the Inquest Division, approved the
resolution of the inquest prosecutor finding a prima facie case of
murder without bail against Braulio Mariano, the mastermind; Cerilio
Gaddi, the knifewielder; and Ledencio Buenafe, the courier, in the
killing of Gelita Sarayan. Gaddi and Buenafe executed extra-judicial
confession, with the assistance of counsel, alleging that Miano
instructed them to executed the killing.
On December 23, 1992, Prosecutor Alvaro modified said resolution by
issuing a second resolution which he dictated to stenographer Josefina
Yambao, finding Gaddi and Buenafe liable for murder and downgrading the
charge against Miano to homicide. Special Counsel Zenaida Laguilles
refused to sign the informations for murder and homicide as she noticed
the existence of conspiracy among the three (3) suspects which
warranted the filing of a common charge of murder. Special Counsel
Venepi Canta likewise refused to sign the informations as he found it
erroneous to charge a principal by induction with mere homicide when
his co-accused was being charged with murder. The informations were
finally signed by Prosecutor Alvaro directing the filing of separate
informations for murder and homicide. The said informations were
approved by Prosecutor Alvaro and file in court.
The following day, December 24, 1992, Miano was released from detention
upon posting the recommended bail of P20,000.00. He was arraigned by
the court for homicide on January 11, 1993.
Consequently, Prosecutor Alvaro was held to answer for downgrading the
charge as well as signing and approving the defective information for
homicide against Miano who was cited therein as the knifewielder when
he was the principal by induction. In view of the defect in the
information which could lead to the dismissal of the case, and as the
charge could no longer be raised to murder, Miano having been
arraigned, the City Prosecutor, as a remedial measure, moved for the
amendment of the information to include the participation of Gaddi and
Buenafe.
Prosecutor Alvaro denies having issued a resolution downgrading the
charge against Miano and having directed the preparation of the two (2)
informations for murder and homicide. He claims that what he prepared
was a short memo urging the prosecutor assigned to filed the
information to further evaluate the evidence on record in the light of
the doctrine of res inter alios acta since the entertained doubts as to
whether the three (3) suspects should be indicated for murder in the
absence of an independent evidence of conspiracy. He avers that his
approval of the two (2) informations was an honest mistake as he
presumed that Prosecutor Diccion had examined carefully their contents.
The recommendation of the Secretary of Justice to suspend Prosecutor
Alvaro from the service for six (6) months without pay is anchored on
the findings after a formal investigation that Prosecutor Alvaro
deliberately downgraded the charge against Miano without the required
approval of the Chief of the Inquest Division, which is an office
procedure, and that he knowingly signed or approved the effective
information for homicide against Miano. Prosecutor Alvaro, by giving
instructions to file separate informations for homicide and murder
flagrantly ignored the basic principle in criminal law and procedure
that when two (2) or more persons are found liable for murder or
homicide, in conspiracy with one another principals, they should all be
indicted in the same criminal information for the same charge.
Prosecutor Alvaro's deliberate and irregular acts have resulted to the
failure of the prosecution to prosecute Miano for murder as he had
already been arraigned for homicide as well as Gaddi, the knifewielder,
who had been included in the amended information for homicide.
We concur with the findings of the Secretary of Justice.
That Prosecutor Alvaro deliberately downgraded the charge against Miano
has been sufficiently established by the testimonies of witness against
him. His defense that his approval of the informations for murder and
homicide was an honest mistake is indeed incredible, he being an
experienced prosecutor.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, respondent Victorino S. Alvaro, Second
Assistant City Prosecutor of Manila, is hereby found guilty as charged,
Accordingly, he is hereby suspended from the service for six (6)
months, without pay, effective fifteen (15) days after his receipt of
the copy of his order.
DONE in the City of Manila,
this 2nd day of August, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
ninety five.
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