THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, VS. ORADOR PINGOL Y SANTIAGO, ET AL., DEFENDANTS, ORADOR PINGOL Y SANTIAGO AND HOMER JINGCO Y APOSTOL, DEFENDANTS (FOR REVIEW.)

In an amended
information filed before the Court of First Instance of Rizal (Quezon City),
Orador Pingol and Homer Jingco, together with four other defend­ants,
namely:  Armando Morales, Angel David,
Jose Aguilus and Maximo Guiles, were charged with the crime of kid­napping for
ransom as defined and penalized in the last paragraph of Article 267 of the
Revised Penal Code.  Pingol, Jingco,
Morales and David were tried jointly; Aguilus was allowed a separate trial; and
the case against Guiles was dismissed provisionally upon motion of the
prosecution.  On August 17, 1965 the
trial court convicted the joint defendants, imposed the death penalty on Pingol
and Jingco, and the penalty of reclusion perpetua on Morales and
David, each to pay 1/6 of the costs.  In
view of the penalty meted out to the first two, their case was elevated to us
for automatic review.

The
kidnap victim was Corazon “Cosette” Tanjuaquio, 15, daughter of a
prominent couple (Sixto Tanquaquio and Juanita Valenzuela) from Guagua,
Pampanga.  Then a senior high school
student at the Maryknoll.  College,
Cosette was staying with the family of Bienvenido Cancio at 90 B. Gonzales,
Loyola Heights, Quezon City.  Not only
was the Cancio residence conveniently located, being just across the street
from the school site; it was moreover like home to Cosette, for Mrs. Lourdes V.
Cancio was her mother’s sister.

November
16, 1964 was a Monday, the first day of the school week.  Cosette was in her room on the ground floor
of the house at about 6:30 in the evening, pre­paring her school assignments
for the next day.  Her uncle, Bienvenido
Cancio was at the table in the dining room, eating an early supper.  His wife, Lourdes, was attending to him.  The gate buzzer rang and Corazon Garcia, the
maid, went out the front door to answer the call.  In a little while she came back and announced
that there were some constabulary (PC) soldiers outside who wished to see the
master of the house.  Mr. Cancio told her
to open the gate and he himself stood up to let the visitors in.  The first man to enter was in khaki uniform,
with a cap ordinarily used by PC soldiers. 
He was later on identified as the defendant Homer Jingco.  As soon as he gained entrance he pulled out a
hand-gun and with it motioned both Mr. and Mrs. Cancio to back up to the dining
room.  Immediately behind him two more
men entered, both similarly attired and carrying long firearms.  One of them – identified as Orador Pingol –
took his place at the landing of the stairway to the upper floor, while the
other – likewise identified as Angel David – stationed himself near a post by
the same stairway.  By then the place was
well illuminated, Mrs. Cancio having switched on all the lights just before the
three men came in.  Pingol and Jingco had
the lower portions of their faces covered with some transparent plastic
material, while Angel David made no attempt to disguise himself.  Still another man, wearing civilian clothes,
was seen standing by the gate outside the house.

Unaware
of what was happening, Cosette came out of her room to take her supper.  As she stepped through the door she saw the
maid, Corazon Garcia, followed by a uniformed man with a gun in his hand.  This man was Angel David.  He ordered Cosette to proceed to the dining
room to join the rest of the household, who had earlier been herded there
together.  On her way Cosette saw and
recognized Orador Pingol at the stairway landing.  She “knew Pingol personally as he used
to work in her father’s ricemill in Pampanga.

In the
dining room Cosette and the rest, including her uncle and her aunt, were made
to squat on the floor with their backs turned to the intruders.  After about 10 minutes Jingco, who had been
standing guard over them, ordered Mrs. Cancio to get her money and jewelry.  He went with her upstairs to the master’s
bedroom, where she opened a drawer and produced the sum of about P150.00,
together with some jewelry, all of which Jingco took and placed in his
pocket.  The two were still upstairs when
another man, in civilian clothes, appeared and said some­thing to Jingco, after
which they all returned to the groundfloor of the house.  Evidently because she had only a brief
glimpse of the man, Mrs. Cancio was unable to establish his identity at the
trial.  Meanwhile the other members of
the household left below had been hustled by Angel David to the maid’s room,
where Mrs. Cancio, coming back downstairs, was made to join them.

Once all
were gathered inside the maid’s room one of the man began asking their
names.  When Cosette’s turn came she said
she was Corazon Tanjuaquio.  Jingco then
ordered her to give him her money.  She
went to her room, accompanied by David, and there took the sum of P4.00 from
her wallet and gave it to him.  Jingco,
who had followed right behind, asked her if she was Cosette, and when she
answered “yes” told her to step out of the house with them.  As they passed in front of the door to the
maid’s room one of the men said aloud to those who were inside that they should
not worry as Cosette was going to return.

The
three men, with Cosette in front, walked out of the house, through the gate and
to the street in front, where a black car was parked with two men in it, one
behind the wheel and the other at the back seat.  On the way Cosette felt the collar of her
dress grasped tightly from behind and heard a warning that she should not shout
or else she would be killed.  Forced
inside the car, she found herself seated at the back between two men.  The one on her right, in civilian clothes,
turned out to be Armando Morales; the one on her left was in PC uniform.  Three others, also in uniform, were seated in
front.  As the vehicle sped away Cosette
was ordered to bend her head low and pretend to be asleep.  As added precaution her hands were tied
behind her and her eyes and mouth taped with adhesive plaster.  After some time the car stopped and Cosette
was bundled inside a jute sack and placed inside the luggage compartment.  During the rest of the trip, however, she was
able to untie herself, open the, sack and loosen the tape from her eyes.  When the car reached its destination she was
removed from the luggage compartment and, with her hands tied once more with a
piece of rope, lowered inside a dugout, where she was made to lie down on a
bamboo cot.  Totally exhausted from her
harrowing experience, she fell asleep almost immediately, little knowing that
she was to spend the next 83 days in that dark, damp and filthy hole in the
ground.

In the
meantime, back at the Cancio residence, a few minutes after Cosette was
forcibly taken Bienvenido Cancio, thinking that she had merely been separated
from the rest of the household, rushed to the second floor to look for
her.  Unable to find her anywhere inside
the house, he went out to the street and sought his neighbors’ help in
reporting the kidnapping.  Half an hour
later police officers from Quezon City, NBI and CIS agents came and started
what was to develop into one of the most massive, if frustrating,
investigations in the country’s criminal annals.

For her
part, Mrs. Cancio lost no time in relaying the news to the Tanjuaquios.  She called them in Guagua, Pampanga by long
distance telephone and told them that their daughter had been taken by armed
men in PC uniforms.  The Tanjuaquio
couple rushed to Manila, arriving at about 10:00 o’clock that evening; but
beyond a general account of the incident no one could furnish any substantial
information.  Early the next morning the
couple returned to Pampanga, there to await the demands that they were almost
sure would come from the kidnappers.

Three or
four days later the first of a series of communications arrived by mail.  Addressed to Bienvenido Cancio, the undated
letter (Exh. 0-1), postmarked Manila, November 17, 1964, was written in pencil
and in block style.  It erroneously
referred to Cosette as Cancio’s daughter and demanded two hundred thousand
(200,000.00) pesos for her safe return, to be delivered not later than the 21st
of that month.  Homer Jingco was later on
to admit that it was he who prepared that written demand, although under
circumstances, he would allege, which did not establish his criminal connection
with the kidnapping.

On
November 22, 1964, while Cosette’s father, Sixto Tanjuaquio, was confined at
the Manila Doctors Hospital recuperating from the initial shock of his
daughter’s disappearance, NBI agents assigned to the case showed him two (2)
letters which had arrived by mail.  One
was the very same letter received by Cancio; the other (Exh. “W”) was
typewritten and postmarked San Fernando, Pampanga, November 19, 1964.  The envelope contained only the maiden name
of Cosette’s mother, Juanita Valenzuela, but the letter itself was directed to
the Tanjuaquio couple.  This second
letter repeated the demand for P200,000.00, moved the deadline for its payment to
November 23, gave detailed instructions as to the place, time and manner of
delivery – even to the number of currency notes and their denominations – and
voiced dire threats of reprisal against the life of the kidnapped girl in case
the instructions were not followed.  A
certain Rodolfo Manalo, referred to in the letter as the Tanjuaquios’
“trusted man,” was to be the emissary to deliver the money.  Attached to the letter was a handwritten note
in English from Cosette and addressed to her mother, saying that she, was
“in good hands” and pleading that her captors’ demands be complied
with.  It was to come out later at the
trial that the said note, as well as the eleven other letters from her which
followed, were either written by her according to the ideas of Orador Pingol
transmitted to her in Tagalog, or simply copied from his previously prepared
drafts.

On
November 25, 1964 Cancio received another typewritten special-delivery letter
postmarked Manila, November 24.  Enclosed
was a short message (Exh. “P-1”) ordering Cancio to promptly deliver
the accompanying sealed envelope to Sixto Tanjuaquio before 4:00 p.m. of
November 25.  Instead of doing so,
however, Cancio gave it to the late Diosdado Lagman of the NBI, whose
assistance had been sought by the Tanjuaquios as early as the night of Cosette’s
disappearance.  This letter (Exh.
“P-2”) was addressed in part to Sixto Tanjuaquio and in part Rodolfo
Manalo, the one chosen as emissary by the kidnappers.  That portion addressed to Sixto Tanjuaquio
berated him for not having kept to himself the contents of the last
letter-instruction.  However, the letter
went on, he was being given a “last chance” to save his daughter’s
life by complying strictly with the new set of instructions elaborately laid
out in that portion directed to Rodolfo Manalo. 
The new rendezvous was to be the Aroma Restaurant and Cafe at the corner
of Claro M. Recto and Rizal Avenue; the time, 4:00 in the afternoon of November
25.  A certain “George,” who
would identify himself to Manalo, would take delivery of the money, after which
Manalo was to remain at the restaurant until 6:30.  The letter, as before, promised fatal
consequences if anything should go wrong. 
The instructions, however, could not be complied with as the letter was
received in Guava only on the same day.

Many
other communications were received there­after: 
(1) a short telegram (Exit. X) signed by “Jorge” and addressed
to Cosette’s mother; (2) a typewritten letter (Exh. Y-1) to the same addressee
dated November 29, 1964, containing fresh instructions for Rodolfo Manalo and
designating a new meeting place in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, but which instructions
he lost courage at the last moment to follow; (3) a typewritten letter (Exh. 2)
to Cosette’s father but contained in an envelope addressed to his other
daughter Milwie Tanjuaquio, scaling down the amount demanded to P50,000.00, to
be delivered at a designated place in Angeles City at 9:00 in the evening of
December 16, and containing the frightening threat that Cosette would be
beheaded if the demand was not satisfied; (4) a typewritten letter (Exh. AA)
dated December 20 in an envelope addressed to a niece-in-law of the
Tanquaquios, moving the delivery date to December 23, at the same place; (5) a
typewritten letter (Exh. BB) dated December 26 and brought to Sixto Tanquaquio
in early January 1965 by Fr. Jose de la Cruz of the Guagua parish, to whom the
letter was addressed, increasing the demand from P50,000.00 to P100,000.00 and
choosing the said priest as the new emissary to deliver it on December 28,
which date, however, had already passed when the letter came into Tanjuaquio’s
hands; (6) a follow-up letter setting a new date for the pay-off, but which Fr.
de la Cruz was not allowed by his superior to keep because the place designated
was a public dancing hall or cabaret; (7) a typewritten letter (Exh. T) dated
January 5, 1965, which the good Father could not comply with because it was
received one day after the date fixed; and (8) several other messages received
on different dates thereafter, and hereinbelow discussed at some length to show
the intent and determination of the kidnappers as well as the heroic efforts to
meet their demands and secure the safe return of their young victim.

Sixto
Tanjuaquio got the first of said messages on January 12, 1965 (Exh. DD).  P100,000.00 in unmarked currency and
consisting of specified denominations should be delivered either by Tanjuaquio
himself or by anyone of the three priests named in the letter.  The instructions were spelled out in meticulous
detail as follows:

“xxx               xxx                   xxx

(2)  On Tuesday January 19 from 8:00 o’clock in the
morning place your jeep in front of your residence in good running condition
and in top-down.  Do not move it away
from there until 10:30 in the evening of the same day January 19.  At exactly 10:25 on the same night bring the
money down from your house to the jeep. 
Start leaving there at exactly 10:30. 
Switch all your lights.  Proceed
to Angeles City at the rate of 20-30 MPH. 
Park your jeep on the shoulder (rampa) near the star apple tree in front
of the M.S.C. Sacred Heart Seminary. 
Leave your jeep outside the fence. 
You enter by walk­ing thru the gate. 
Bring the money with you.  Stop
and wait under the apple tree.  You can
sit down facing the Seminary.  Do not
forget to bring a flashlight.  Be sure you
are already there at 11:30.  In between
11:30 and 12:00 midnight my men together with your daughter will give you the
signal of their presence by flashing their flashlight two times towards you.  Answer them by flashing your flashlight three
times towards them.  Then your daughter
will call you.  You answer back by
calling her name.  But that is all to be
shouted off.  Do not move from your
place.  They will be the one to approach
you.  Once in front of you, you can have
your daughter into your arms.  But you
are guarded by the one holding a submachine gun.  While the other fellow is checking and
counting the bundles of money.  Once
found correct, our men will bid you goodbye. 
While you stay there for exactly 15 minutes from the time they will
leave you.  Then you can go home
peacefully.  But once the money were
found incorrect or some kind of foul play, you will know what will happen.

x x x x x”

As in
the previous letters the kidnappers attached a handwritten note from Cosette
(Exh. K), pleading to her father to accede to the kidnappers’ demands so that
she could finally go home.

Fr. Jose
de la Cruz, one of the three priests suggested, was again requested by the
Tanjuaquios to undertake the job.  He was
close to the family, knew Cosette personally and seemed peculiarly fitted, by
virtue of his religious office, to perform the delicate mission.  And so with his superior’s permission he
agreed to keep the rendezvous.  Obeying
the typewritten instructions to the letter, Fr. de la Cruz left Guagua at 10:30
p.m. of January 19, driving the jeep himself, top-down, with the bag of money
securely placed under his right leg. 
From Guagua he proceeded to San Fernando and then to Angeles City, where
he arrived a few minutes before 11:30. 
He went directly to the Sacred Heart Seminary, parked the jeep in front
of the seminary gate and walked, the bag of money in his hand, toward the star
apple tree indicated by the kidnappers. 
He waited there up to 3:00 o’clock the following morning, but nobody
showed up.  With a feel­ing of
frustration, Fr. de la Cruz gave up the vigil and went inside the seminary
building to rest, until Mr. and Mrs. Sixto Tanjuaquio came later in the day and
took him home.

As
expected, word from the kidnappers was not long in coming.  Postmarked Sexmoan, Pampanga, January 21,
1965, the typewritten letter (Exh. EE) was addressed to Sixto Tanjuaquio.  It explained that the kidnappers’ failure to
appear at the rendezvous was due to the inability of Cosette to withstand the
long trek from their hide-out to Angeles City. 
This time January 23 was fixed as the delivery date; otherwise the
directions stated in the January 12 message remained unchanged.  As usual, a handwritten note of Cosette (Exh.
I) was enclosed, confirming the explanation that she was not feeling well
enough to travel on the night of January 19.

On
January 23 Fr. de la Cruz drove to Angeles City again to keep the appointment
with Cosette’s captors, and again his mission was frustrated.  While waiting at the designated meeting place
he was informed by Sixto Tanjuaquio through the telephone at the seminary that
the kidnappers would not be coming.  Tan­juaquio
had earlier received a long-distance call from Manila, from someone who
identified himself as “George,” saying that Cosette would not be released
that night.  The caller also advised the
Tanjuaquios to follow the same procedure in the evening of the following day
according to the instructions already given. 
The repeat performance, however, was again a failure.  In spite of a bad stomach Father de la Cruz
went to the meeting place, although accompanied this time by another priest,
one Fr. Roque but as before kidnappers failed to appear.

For
several days thereafter the negotiations for Cosette’s release were at a
standstill.  No word was received from
the other side.  Neither was it any
comfort that after more than two months the authorities had not uncovered any
tangible lead as to Cosette is whereabouts.

Towards
the end of January a sealed envelope, with the word “RUSH” written on
it, was dropped by an unknown courier in front of Sixto Tanjuaquio’s ricemill
in Guagua, Pampanga.  It contained a
typewritten letter dated January 25, 1965 (Exh. FF), explaining that Cosette’s
captors did not keep the appointment on January 24 be­cause they had received
information from their “intel­ligence” that the city (Angeles) is
burning hot.” New instructions, however, were given, to wit:

” x x x Place that jeep (top-down) in-front of your residence
from 8:00 o’clock in the morning of January 26. 
Do not move it until 10:30 at night. 
At 10:25 bring that bag of money down with your one-man (Rev. Priest)
representative.  Tell him to proceed to
the new meeting place at the rate of 20-30 MPH with all switches of lights
on.  Starting from Guagua, follow the
road leading to Porac.  About 4 or 5
kilometers before reaching Porac, you will see a school house on the left side
of the road.  The name of the school is
‘Mababang Paaralan ng Pulong Santol’. 
Park the jeep in front of the gate. 
Put out the lights and stop the engine. 
Do not step down until you see the two flashes of signals from a
flashlight coming from the general direction of one of the buildings.  Then you signal back by flashing three times
towards the direction where the signals came from.  You alight then from the jeep and pro­ceed
inside the premises of the school.  Stop
in the middle in between the gate and the building in front of you.  You will hear Cosette shout these words:  ‘Daddy naririto ako.’ Then the priest will
answer back by saying Cosette ako si Padre___.’ The priest will shout his name
to be recognized.  Then Cosette and our
two men will approach.  Do the ex­change,
the checking.  There will be sixty
bundles in all as indicated before.  If
OK, the two men disappear and you stay in the jeep for 15 minutes then go
home.  I beg you Mr. Tanuakio, if you
make any funny secret markings on the bills, you will never live in peace from
then on.

“Now if your jeep does not appear at 8:00 o’clock in the
morning of January 26 we will understand. 
There will be no reason for us to appear too on the meeting place.  And no more further reasons for us left to
appear anymore.  Or if we do, it will
take another time.  Maybe 2 or 3
months?  Or 2 or 3 years.  That depends upon the superiors.  Because it is too risky for our part to have
your daughter exposed too much on contaminated places.  So to avoid that risk, if we can not make the
exchange now, she will be moved back in the safety line.  The new suggested place is good and
satisfactory for us and the most for you less you ignite the flame to get us
into a whirlpool again.  We hope we don’t
this time.

x x x          x
x x     x x x”

At 10:30
on the night of January 26 Fr. de La Cruz started on the trip to Pulong Santol,
a barrio somewhere between Porac and Sta. Rita, Pampanga.  At barrio Sinipit, Sta. Rita, some
unidentified men fired shots at him but missed. 
At the outskirts of Dila-Dila, another barrio of Sta. Rita, he heard
another series of shots.  He noted, as he
tried to drive faster, that he could hardly control the steering wheel, and
realized that one of its tires must have been hit.  When he stopped about half a kilometer away
another jeep arrived with five armed men aboard.  They offered to help him change the deflated
tire and afterwards even volunteered to escort him to Porac.  Thinking of the money he had with him, Fr. de
la Cruz politely declined their offer and instead sought the barrio captain of
the place to accompany him to the nearest army detachment.  From there he was escorted by army soldiers
to Guagua, where he arrived at 1:30 in the morning.  He met the Tanjuaquio couple at the chapel,
related his mis­adventure and returned the ransom money to them.  That abortive episode was the last chance
given to the Tanjua­quios to negotiate their daughter’s release:  no other message was received from her or her
kidnappers.

Cosette’s
eventual rescue was almost entirely fortuitous; certainly not the result of
competent police work.  On February 6,
1965, two women-Josefina Chan and Lilia Morales – were caught in the act of
selling counter­feit peso bills in an eating place in Caloocan City.  Grilled by the PC authorities in Camp Crame,
the two yielded information concerning the source of the bogus currency.  A team was organized and sent out on February
7 to appre­hend the persons implicated by the two women.  The team’s destination was barrio Magsaysay,
Guagua, Pampanga; its principal quarry was Orador Pingol, a prominent local
resident who had been tagged as the ring-leader.  Upon reaching the outskirts of the barrio the
government agents composing the team stopped their jeep and ordered the two
women suspects to proceed on foot to Pingol’s house.  Two of the men went with them while the
others deployed them­selves in the vicinity. 
One of the latter went to the back­yard of the house and saw a pigpen at
its farther end.  His curiosity aroused
upon noting that a small portion of the floor of the pigpen had some sort of
covering, he took hold of the cover handle and pulled.  It was, he saw, only a device to hide a hole
in the ground.  Just as he was putting it
back in place he heard a voice coming through the opening from
underground.  Instinctively he cautioned
the owner of the voice, “Tao ka diyan, hustisya ito.  Huwag kang manlaban,” and drew his
gun.  The bamboo pieces near the opening
began to move and a hand hovered into view. 
The agent took hold of it, heaved twice and a man came out.  The man was Orador Pingol.  He was turned aver to the team leader, one
Captain Garcia, and two government agents returned to the hiding place.  Again the voice of a person was heard through
the opening, followed by a hand groping its way out.  With the help of the two agents a
haggard-looking young girl emerged – it was Corazon Tan­juaquio.

Meanwhile,
a casual search inside the dugout yielded a big bundle, which when opened was
found to contain a number of PC uniforms and pershing caps, a revolver and
paraphernalia for making counterfeit money.

 Weak and emaciated, Cosette was rushed to the
V. Luna General Hospital in Quezon City, where she stayed under medical
treatment for nine (9) days.  Orador
Pingol was taken to the CIS office at Camp Crame for interrogation.  He gave a statement (Exh. WWW) that same
night, but from its tenor the investigators suspected his story to be
fabricated.  He mentioned a certain
“Boy” and Teodoro Guevarra as his companions in the kidnapping, but
could tot give any speci­fic information as to their identities or places of
resi­dence.  So the next day, February 8,
NBI and CIS agents headed by Attorney Berlin Castillo returned to Pingol’s
residence at barrio. Magsaysay to conduct a more detailed search of the
premises.  Inside the dugout they found a
number of articles, among them copies of the letters and documents which had to
do with the kidnapping, including the drafts from which Cosettet’s notes to her
parents had been copied.  Back at Camp
Crame Pingol’s interrogation was resumed, and confronted with the documents and
other articles discovered in the dugout, Pingol broke down and confessed, implicating
Homer Jingco, Angel David and Armando Morales as his companions in the crime.

PingoI’s
confession is marked Exhibit “PP” in the record.  It is significant that his story of the
events which happened inside the Cancio residence in Quezon Cit in the evening
of November 16, 1964 coincides in practically every detail with the story
related later on by Bienvenido Cancio, his wife, and Cosette herself when they
testified at the trial.  One particular
item in the confession bears emphasizing. 
After the kidnappers left the house, with Cosette in custody, they went
by car to Pampanga; and when they reached Sto. Tomas, the town before San
Fernando, they stopped the car, placed the girl inside a jute sack and dumped
her inside the luggage compartment.  Then
they proceeded to the bowling alley in Sto. Tomas, where they stopped and
left Homer Jingco so that he could return to Manila, as he did the next
morning, in order to post the first ransom note which he had written.

At this
point in the interrogation, after Pingol had mentioned the names of his three
companions, the investigator asked him if he would be willing to accompany a
CIS-NBI team to apprehend them.  Two
teams in fact were organized – one headed for Guagua, Pampanga, where it
arrested Homer Jingco, then barrio Magsaysay, where it arrested Armando
Morales; and the other was dispatched to Sta. Rosa, Pilar, Bataan, where it
arrested Angel David.  That was on
February 9, 1970.  Upon indication by
Pingol, who was taken along by the team that went to Pampanga, the group
proceeded to the house of a certain Francisco Capulong in Floridablanca and
there recovered the typewriter which had been used in preparing the ransom
notes.  Capulong confirmed the fact that
it was borrowed by Pingol from him but had since been returned.  From there the team proceeded to Pingol’s
house, where after some search the firearms which he said had been used in the
kidnapping mere found buried beneath a pile of garbage near the kitchen.

Likewise
upon indication by Pingol, a group of NBI agents went with him and Mrs. Lourdes
V. Cancio to Angeles City the next day and were able to recover, from two
different pawnshops where Pingol had pawned them, the transistor radio and the
ladies’ wrist watch taken by the kidnappers from the Cancio residence.  On February 11, 1970 the interrogation of
Pingol was resumed.  All in all 139
questions were put to and answered by him, revealing in stark detail the events
related to Cosette’s sequestration and captivity which lasted almost three
months, as well as the active participation therein of Homer Jingco, Angel
David and Armando Morales.  These last
two, when apprehended, made their own confessions corroborating the story given
by Pingol.

The
evidence was complete and the State went to trial, at which all the foregoing
evidence was presented.  The Judge, Hon.
Placido C. Ramos, presiding the Court of First Instance of Quezon City,
analyzed the said evidence with the care and attention called for by the
gravity of the offense and rendered his verdict in a 137-page decision.  The sentence of death he imposed on Orador
Pingol and Homer Jingco, however, carried a recommendation to the President
that the same be commuted to life imprisonment.

No less
deserving of mention is the commendable work of Attorney Roman B. Antonio, the de
officio defense counsel appointed by this Court for purposes of this
review, in preparing an exhaustive typewritten brief and presenting the case
for both defendants in as favorable light as possible.

The
burden of Pingol’s defense, as it developed at the trial, is that his crime is
not kidnapping for ran­som; that when he went to the Cancio residence on
November 16, 1964, the idea of kidnapping, let alone kidnapping Corazon
Tanjuaquio in particular, was not in his mind at all.  His testimony was evidently contrived to
avoid, if possible, the fatal consequences of his extrajudicial con­fession.  In the afternoon of that day, he said, he had
a business appointment with an old acquaintance by the name of Teodoro
Guevara.  They met at Cubao, Quezon City,
and, using Pingol’s car, went to see a friend of Guevara’s in Mariquina, one
whom Pingol did not know and who was introduced to him only as “Boy.”
The business transaction, however, did not go through; instead, Guevara proposed
that they rob a certain house, which turned out to be that of the Cancios in
Quezon City.  It was a surprise to him,
Pingol said, to see Corazon Tanjuaquio in the house.  Knowing her personally, he suggested to
Guevara that she be taken along as hostage after the robbery, his idea being
that on his way to Pampanga he would leave her in San Fernando so that she
could proceed to her home in Guagua. 
Upon reaching San Fernando, however, he remembered some personal grudge
he had against Cosette’s father, Sixto Tanjuaquio, and thought that this was a
good opportunity to have his revenge.  So
he and Guevara (“Boy” having separated from them in the meantime)
proceeded to barrio Magsaysay, where they hid the girl inside the dugout which
was to be her home for the next eighty-three days.

The
story falls by the very weight of its own im­probabilities.  Pingol could give no information concerning
the identities of his supposed companions, “Boy” and Teodoro Guevara,
nor where they were residing, in spite of his allegation that Guevara was an
old acquaintance and that the two of them went to fetch “Boy”
somewhere in Mariquina in the afternoon before the robbery was com­mitted.  Why Pingol would casually consent to a sudden
switch of plans from a legitimate business deal to the commission of such a
serious crime has not been explained, is indeed incapable of reasonable
explanation.  There was too much
fortuitous coincidence in the fact that the place chosen by Guevara was the
house of the Cancios, where precisely Corazon Tanjuaquio was living, just as
there was too little sense in the fact that the robbers would un­necessarily
jeopardize their own safety by taking a hostage with them.  And if robbery was intended, the loot was too
insignificant – there was not even an attempt to ransack the house for really
valuable articles.

In any
case, the suggestion that there was no intention to kidnap the girl and to hold
her for ransom is entirely disproved by her testimony and that of Bienvenido
Cancio and his wife at the trial, by the numerous letters demanding enormous
suns of money for the girl’s release, by the duration of her captivity, and by
Pingol’s own extrajudicial confession.

According
to the defense the said confession should not have been admitted at all because
it had been extracted by force and maltreatment.  The following observations made by the trial
court on this point, however, have our full concurrence:

“The Court will take first the confession of Orador Pingol,
Exhibit “PP”.  This confession
was taken when Orador Pingol himself, according to the evidence, revealed to
the investigating authorities that his statement in Exhibit “WWW”
were not true and after the incriminating documents and objects had been found
in the dugout.  This confession, Exhibit
“PP”, was subscribed and sworn to before Fiscal Halili and Special
Prosecutor Jesus Vergara.  It is
contended that this confession was obtained after maltreatment and much
suffering inflicted on Orador Pingol by the CIS agents as narrated by him.  The vehemence with which counsel for the
defense has urged this point has deserved from the Court a serious and careful
consideration of the evidence and circumstances surrounding the execution of
the extra­judicial confessions of the accused. 
If, indeed, he had been maltreated and Exhibit “PP” is not his
voluntary confession, Orador Pingol, who is an intelligent man, could have
complained to Fiscal Miguel Halili and Special Prosecutor Jesus Vergara of such
maltreatment, these being sworn officers of the law, and which, the Court is
confident, would not betray their public trust by begrudging protection to
citizens of this country.  He could have
explained to these officials the maltreatment he had been the sub­ject of and
refused to sign Exhibit “PP”, but he did not do so.  Moreover, the details narrated in Exhibit
“PP” could not have been invented by any person or authority, much
less investigating officer, Atty. Berlin Castillo.  Such details could have been supplied only by
the very person who had experienced the same or who has taken part in the
execution of the acts narrated therein. 
People vs. Cruz, 73 Phil. 655. 
Then too, Pingol could have himself examined by a competent physician of
the Philippine Constabulary or any other physician as he was not deprived of
any oppor­tunity to communicate with lawyers or relatives.  If this accused did as much as complain to
this.  Court during the arraignment of
any maltreatment, the Court would have ordered his confinement elsewhere
instead of allowing him to remain in custody of CIS.  This conduct and attitude of Pingol belies
his claim of maltreatment.  No man will
ever choose to live in the custody of his tormentor.

Again, a consideration of the confession of Orador Pingol, Exhibit
“PP”, and the evidence in the record shows that this confession has
been confirmed by subsequent facts. 
First, in answer to questions 24,78,78 and 80, Orador Pingol says that
Homer Jingco took, among other things, one radio and watch.  This has been confirmed by the findings at
the Rey’s pawnshop at Angeles City of a transistor radio, Exhibit ‘SS’, and a
lady’s Titus watch, at another pawnshop, Exhibit “SS-1”.  In answer to questions 60, 61 and 62, Orador
Pingol mentioned the use of several firearms. 
This fact is confirmed by the subsequent finding of the firearm presented
in court as Exh. in the backyard of Orador Pingol.  In answer to questions 63 and 64, Pingol
declared that they used on the night in question PC uniforms.  This fact has been confirmed by the finding
of the PC uniforms in the dugout.  In
answer to questions 69 and 70, Orador Pingol says that he used a Remington
typewriter belonging to Francisco Capulong in the preparation of several ransom
notes.  This fact has been confirmed by
the testimony of Francisco Capulong to the effect that Orador Pingol borrowed
from him the typewriter, Exhibit “GG”.”

It need
only be added that even discounting Pingol’s confession the rest of the
evidence is more than sufficient to establish his guilt.

With
respect to Homer Jingco, he denied any participation in the kidnapping and put
up the defense of alibi.  On November 16,
1964, he said, he was at a bowling hall in Sto. Tomas, Pampanga, where he
played several games from 7 to 9 in the evening.  Corroboration was furnished by Councilor
Inocencio B. Lingad of the same municipality, who said that Jingco was at the
aforesaid place until 10, and by two bowling score sheets where the name
“Homer” appears written.  These
score sheets, numbered 485 and 488, were among those used that evening, all
presented in evidence and numbered 471 to 490, inclusive.  Considering that according to the manager of
the Sto. Tomas bowling lanes the games lasted up to about midnight and that the
score sheets were used in consecutive order, the trial court correctly
concluded that when Jingco played his own games, using score sheets numbered
485 and 488, it was already quite late – certainly late enough for him to be in
Sto. Tomas even if he was in Quezon City at 6:30 the same evening.  For the distance to Sto. Tomas, which is only
some sixty kilometers away, can be easily negotiated by motor car in little
more than one hour.  Significant in this
connection is Orador Pingol’s statement in his extrajudicial confession that
when he and his companions reached Sto. Tomas after the kidnapping they stopped
the car in order to put Cosette inside a jute sack and dump her inside the
luggage compartment, and then proceeded to the bowling alley in the same town
where Jingco got off so that he could return to Manila the next morning to mail
the first ransom letter he himself had written. 
Jingco’s alibi is therefore clearly no defense at all.

As
hereinbefore pointed out, Jingco was positively identified as one of the three
armed men who entered the Cancio residence by Cosette, by Bienvenido Cancio and
by his wife.  The identification
satisfies the judicial mind and conscience. 
Although Jingco had his face below the nose covered, the mask was made
of transparent plastic material and consequently could not effectively disguise
him.  He not only stayed at the house for
a considerable length of time but spoke to Mrs. Cancio when he went with her
upstairs, and to Cosette when he asked her name and ordered her to give her
money to him.  Then of course there is
the first ransom letter which he admitted having written; and several drafts
from which other ransom demands were copied, which drafts were recovered inside
the dugout where Cosette was confined and which have been established by expert
testimony to be either entirely or partly in Jingco’s handwriting.  These drafts are Exhibits “00-12,”
“00-13” and “00-18”.

Jingco
tried to explain away the fact that he prepared the first ransom letter, which
demanded the sum of P200,000.00, by saying that he did so at the request of
Pingol, who told him that he was going to use it to play a joke on someone in
Quezon City.  The explanation is on its
face much too naive to be accorded credence, for Pingol could have had his joke
by writing the letter him­self without Jingco’s assistance.  And if Jingco was as guiltless as he
pretended he would have reported to the authorities his unwitting participation
in the sensa­tional crime after it broke out in all the newspapers and thus,
like a good citizen, facilitated the rescue of the young and helpless
victim.  His complete silence throughout
was not the reaction of an innocent man.

Illegal
detention or kidnapping is committed when a private person kidnaps, detains or
otherwise deprives another of his liberty. 
Where the kidnapping or detention was committed for the purpose of ex­torting
ransom from the victim or any other person, the penalty provided by Law is
death (Art. 267, Revised Penal Code).

The
judgment under review, insofar as defendants Orador Pingol and Homer Jingco are
concerned, being in accordance with law and the evidence, the same is hereby
affirmed, with costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, Dizon, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Fernando,
Teehankee, and Villamor, JJ., concur.

 Castro, J., on leave.

Barredo, J., no part.