The Regional Trial Court Branch 64 dismissed the murder charges filed against five officials in Negros Occidental’s Moises Padilla town after four years of litigation.
Acting Presiding Judge Ma. Anna Priscila Pareja, in an order dated Friday, February 28, granted the motion to dismiss the case against Moises Padilla Councilor Vincent Bryan Garcia, Barangay Captain Felisa Villaflor, Jonathan Villaflor, Jose Morito Flores, and Vice Mayor Adrian Villaflor.
“The defense has constantly moved for the dismissal of the instant case due to the private complainant and the private prosecutor’s apparent lack of interest to pursue the case, invoking their client’s right to a speedy trial,” the court said.
The court, private complainant Francis Leo Hilario and his counsel, Atty. Yvonne Gulmatico-Cioco and Atty. Ciro dela Cruz, failed to appear in multiple hearings without justifiable reasons.
These hearings were scheduled for September 9, 2024, and February 11 and 26, 2025.
On February 11, the court directed the private prosecutors to formalize their email stating that the complainant no longer wished to pursue the case.
The prosecutors informed the court that they were supposed to meet with Hilario and his mother on February 27, to clarify their intent regarding the case.
However, they did not show up and later conveyed that they had decided to withdraw the complaint.
Another hearing was then set for February 28 to determine the case’s status.
Following the dismissal, the court ordered the release of the accused from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Bago City.
The court also directed that their bail bonds be returned upon presentation of proper receipts.
The private complainant and his legal team were given 30 days to reimburse the expenses incurred by the accused and their counsel.
Failure to do so would result in contempt charges, Pareja said.
The case stemmed from Hilario’s complaint in 2021, in which he alleged that Garcia and his co-accused conspired with the New People’s Army in the killing of his father, Councilor Jolomar Hilario, in 2019.
Hilario, 51 years old, running for re-election in the 2019 local elections, was murdered at his home in Barangay Inolingan./WDJ