G.R. No. 130189 June 25, 1999
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee,
vs.
DOMINGO R. MULETA, accused-appellant.
https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1999/jun1999/gr_130189_1999.html
"No Valid Waiver
The illegality of the alleged confession is further demonstrated by the fact that appellant exercised no satisfactory waiver of his rights. As stated in our earlier discussions, since he was not assisted by a lawyer when the waiver was made, there was no valid waiver to speak of. 36
Furthermore, even if we were to assume that the appellant was assisted by counsel when he waived his lights, the waiver itself was lamentably insufficient. After Atty. Daquiz was allegedly called to assist the appellant, she posited this question: "Gusto mo bang talikdan ang iyong mga karapatan na ibinibigay sa iyo ng ating Konstitusyon?" 37 To this appellant replied: "Tinatalikdan ko na po iyon dahil gusto ko nang ipagtapat ang pangyayari kay CHARITO DELGADO na pamangkin ko." 38
To the Court, this was not the waiver that the Constitution clearly and strictly required. Such waiver failed to show his understanding of his rights, his waiver of those rights, and the implications of his waiver. The waiver, in order to be valid, should have been in a language that clearly manifested his desire to do so. 39 The part of the sworn statement in which the accused "waived" his rights referred to them as "mga karapatan na ibinigay sa iyo ng ating Konstitusyon" and "iyon" — words that were utterly vague and insufficient to satisfy the Constitutional requirements. 40 As presented, the prosecution would have us refer to the first part of the sworn statement for guidance, as if it were a footnote saying "Please see first part." Such stratagem is woefully insufficient to constitute a waiver of rights cherished and enshrined in our basic law.
Moreover, Atty. Daquiz raised only one question: whether appellant would like to waive his rights. This was odd, because she had been called to assist appellant in making his confession, not his waiver. Atty. Daquiz made no effort to determine whether the accused was treated well, or the understood his rights. Such perfunctory, even cavalier, attempt falls short of constitutional requirements."
