Slain Davao teen’s family appeals decision not to indict doctor for murder

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – The lawyer for the family of slain Davao teenager Amierkhan Mangacop on Friday afternoon, July 22, filed a motion to formally ask city prosecutors to approve a murder case against a physician instead of indicting him for homicide and illegal gun possession.

The victim, a 9th grader, would have turned 20 years on Saturday, July 23.

Lawyer Gibb Andrew Cabahug filed the motion for reconsideration on behalf of Mangacop’s family before the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office on Friday afternoon.

The motion was filed three days after prosecutors stated in a resolution that they found no probable cause to bring the suspect, Dr. Marvin Rey Andrew Pepino, to court for murder.

The downgrading of the case allowed Pepino, one of the medical personnel of the Philippine National Police in the Davao Region, to bail out for P180,000 on Thursday, July 21.

Cabahug appealed to Davao prosecutors to review the case “with fairness and equality.”

He also sought a clarificatory hearing with the prosecutors and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which conducted a parallel investigation into the case after the Mangacops sought an independent, third-party investigation into the July 2 killing.

The NBI submitted the additional evidence on July 15.

Cabahug said Pepino, the son of a former police general, shot the 19-year-old Mangacop seven times at the height of an altercation outside a bar at Camus Extension on V. Mapa Street in Davao City on July 2. 

He said the doctor used special bullets that were guaranteed to cause serious damage to any person hit by them.

The kind of bullets that killed Mangacop were prohibited by the Hague Convention, according to Cabahug.

The Mangacop family said prosecutors need to consider that the shooting happened in the presence of a police officer.

Cabahug said footage from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera showed that Mangacop was still wearing a motorcycle helmet, suggesting he had just arrived at the crime scene where there was an altercation that involved Pepino.

The footage showed Pepino falling to the ground after a scuffle and then standing up to go after and shoot Mangacop, who was walking away with his cousin. 

In their resolution, prosecutors said the evidence the Mangacop family submitted through their lawyer, including the CCTV footage, showed that “the killing was not attended by any qualifying circumstances under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code.” – Rappler.com