Professional Documents
Culture Documents
witness Rodrigo Esma several days before the latter testified. After
trial, the Regional Trial Court found the circumstantial evidence
sufficient to warrant conviction beyond reasonable doubt of both
Albofera and Lawi-an for murder, sentenced them to death. Hence, the
mandatory review.
Issue: Whether the extrajudicial confession of Albofera is admissible
as evidence against him.
Held/Ratio: No. For failure to meet such exacting standards, the
extrajudicial confession of accused Albofera must be stricken out and
held inadmissible in evidence against him.
In his sworn statement for the extrajudicial confession, Albofera was
asked a series of preliminary questions wherein the answers that he
gave essentially waived his rights to remain silent and to the
assistance of counsel. The Supreme Court cited several jurisprudential
precedents, which held that the foregoing form of questioning does not
satisfy the Constitutional requirement that an accused be apprised of
his constitutional rights to remain silent and to counsel. It is, at best,
ceremonial. There must be a transmission of meaningful information,
which must be understood by the person under investigation and not
just a mere mechanical recitation of the Constitutional mandates.
The Court also took notice of the fact that the extra-judicial confession
was extracted without the assistance of counsel, in violation of the rule
that "no custodial investigation shall be conducted unless it be in the
presence of counsel engaged by the person arrested, by any person on
his behalf, or appointed by the court upon petition either of the
detainee himself or by anyone on his behalf." Albofera seemingly
waived his right to counsel in his sworn statement, which he is allowed
to do, but the Court was not convinced that the waiver was voluntary,
knowing and intelligent. More importantly, the waiver was not valid
because it was made without the assistance of counsel. That principle
is now enshrined in the 1987 Constitution, which explicitly requires
that the waiver be in writing and in the presence of counsel.