THE Court of Appeals 12th Division has nullified the twin orders of the Legazpi City Regional Trial Court, which allowed Daraga, Albay mayor Carlwyn Baldo, the alleged mastermind in the killing of Ako Bicol (AKB) representative Rodel Batocabe, to post bail in 2019.
The appellate court, in a 10-page decision authored by Associate Justice Emely R. Aliño-Geluz, ruled that the presiding judge of the RTC Branch 10 committed grave abuse of discretion in granting Baldo’s petition for bail without considering the prosecution’s evidence against such grant.
The CA decision, dated March 1, 2023, orders the RTC to resume its hearings into the petition for bail, by considering the evidence presented by the prosecution.
“The invalidation of the two assailed orders will not ipso facto result in the assumption that evidence of guilt is strong or vice versa. In our view, the equitable course of action is to remand the incident to the trial court to make a new, immediate, and updated assessment of all the evidence at hand and to issue the appropriate Order containing the summary thereof with its resolution on Baldo’s entitlement to bail,” the decision read.
On August 29, 2019, the court issued the first assailed order granting Baldo’s petition, which was later denied through the second assailed order when the prosecution moved for reconsideration.
The CA stated that the trial court made an error by leaving out the testimonies of three prosecution witnesses.
“The trial court overstepped its discretion when it intentionally excluded the three witnesses without offering any valid reason or explanation other than citing its very authority to exercise discretion. This line of reasoning is absurd, if not shallow,” the CA said.
Baldo, facing double murder and six counts of frustrated murder, was granted bail by the court after posting P8.72 million worth of surety bond composed of land titles in his name.
In December 2018, Batocabe and his security aide SPO2 Orlando Diaz were killed while leaving a Christmas event in Daraga.
At that time, Batocabe was running against Baldo, who was seeking reelection.
