Facts

Bernardo Quidato Jr. was charged with the crime of parricide by the regional trial court of davao
for killing his father Bernardo Quidato Sr. together with Reynaldo Malita and Eddie Malita who
withdrew their “not guilty”plea and were sentence accordingly. The prosecution presented the
accused-appellant’s brother Leo Quidato, appellant’s wife Gina Quidato, and the patrolman
Lucrecio Mara as witnesses. As evidence, the prosecution also offered the affidavits of the
Malita brothers which contained their extra-judicial confession, but the prosecution did not
present them on the witness stand, making the said confession an inadmissible hearsay even if
they presented Atty. Jonathan Jocom to prove that they were assisted by counsel when they made
their confession. In addition, they also present MTC Judge George Omelio to attest that the
sworn statements by the Malita brothers were voluntary. According to the prosecution, Bernardo
Quidato Sr. was the father of the accused-appellant Bernardo Quidato Jr. and Leo Quidato; he
lived in his house alone since he was a widower and he owned sixteen hectares of coconut land.
September 16, 1988 the accused-appellant accompanied his father together with two hired hands
which are the Malita brothers to sell 41 sacks of copra in Davao City. After selling the copra,
Quidato Sr. paid the Malita brothers for their service who after received their payment left. On
the evening of the next day, according to Gina Quidato as the accused-appellant and Malita
brothers were drinking, they were planning on going to her father-in-laws house to get money,
after that she had no knowledge of what transpired since she went to bed; the said testimony was
used against the Malita brothers but not against her husband due to marital disqualification.
Base on the testimony of the Malita brothers the accused-appellant invited them to his house to
discus an important matter, as they were drinking, the Bernardo proposed to rob and kill his own
father. By 10pm, Reynaldo Malita brought along a bolo, as they arrived in Quidato Sr.’s house,
accused-appellant knocked on the door and asked his father to let them in. When the old man
opened the door, Eddie rushed in, knocking the old man down, then Reynaldo hacked his nape
and neck while the accused-appellant and Eddie ransacked the old man’s aparador looking for
money, but they found none, so they immediately left.
The body of Bernardo Quidato Sr. was discovered the next day by the accused-appellant’s son
because he had gone to call his grandfather for breakfast. Leo Quidato then confronted his
brother and the Malita brothers and had them arrested for the crime of parricide.
Issue:
Whether or not the evidence presented by the prosecution sufficient to convict the accused-
appellant beyond reasonable doubt?
Held/ Ruling:
No, the evidence presented by the prosecution is not enough to convict the accused-appellant
beyond reasonable doubt because the prosecution relied heavily on the affidavits of Reynaldo
and Eddie Malita which are considered as inadmissible hearsay base on the hornbook doctrine
which states that unless the affiants themselves take the witness stand to affirm the averments in
their affidavits, the affidavits must be excluded from the judicia proceeding as inadmissible
hearsay, also the accused-appellant was not given the opportunity to hear the Malita brothers
testify and cross-examine them. In addition, the manner by which the affidavits of the Malita
brothers were obtained by the police renders inadmissible in evidence even if they were
voluntarily given base on the settled rule which states that uncounseled extrajudicial confession
without a valid waiver of the right to counsel is inadmissible in evidence; they tried to cure the
defect by asking the Malita brothers to sign the confession in the presence of a counsel. As for
accused-appellant’s wife, Gina Quidato’s testimony must also be disregarded because of the
objection of Bernardo base on the marital disqualification rule. Due to the inadmissibility of
Gina Quidato’s testimony, as well as the Malita borther’s extrajudicial confession, nothing
remains on the record that would convict the accused-appellant. The appeal was granted and
Bernardo Quidato Jr. was acquitted on the grounds of reasonable doubt, he must be immediately
released from his place of confinement unless there is reason to detain him further, with costs de
oficio.