SC upholds 2 life terms for Jalosjos

The Supreme Court affirmed yesterday the two life terms for rape imposed on Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos by the Makati Regional Trial Court in December 1997.

Voting unanimously, the 15-member tribunal ruled that prosecutors were able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Jalosjos had carnal knowledge of the 11-year-old victim in June 1996.

The high tribunal also ordered Jalosjos to pay his victim, who is now 16, damages totaling P700,000.

At the House of Representatives, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said they will wait for the high tribunal’s decision to become final and executory before removing the name of Jalosjos from the roster of congressmen.

Gonzales said Jalosjos has 15 days under the law to file a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court for the decision to be reversed.

"If he files an appeal and it is denied, that is the time when the conviction becomes final and he will be delisted from the roster of House members," he said.

On the other hand, Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro Jr., former executive committee chairman of the National People’s Coalition, said Jalosjos will "just fade away" as a party member after the high tribunal’s decision becomes final and executory.

"He will effectively lose his membership when his conviction becomes final since he will no longer be qualified to vote and be voted upon to public office," he said.

Also affirmed by the high tribunal were the two counts of act of lasciviousness for which the Makati court had convicted Jalosjos, along with that of rape.

Led by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, the prosecution presented eight witnesses to buttress its allegations that it was Jalosjos and not his brother Dominador who had sex with the 11-year-old victim.

"Moreover, the prosecution successfully proved that she was only 11 years old," read an excerpt from the high court’s 46-page decision.

The court said even without penetration, the sexual act committed by Jalosjos constituted rape.

Before Makati Judge Roberto Diokno could issue a warrant of arrest, Jalosjos escaped from prison in December 1996, but he was later captured in Bagac, Bataan by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Presidential Security Group.

Meanwhile, lawyer Katrina Legarda, one of the private prosecutors in the celebrated case, told The STAR in a telephone interview yesterday she was "very, very happy" that the Supreme Court had finally issued the decision. – Delon Porcalla, Jess Diaz