CA affirms carnapping charge vs Ateneo shooting suspect

APPELLATE COURT. The Court of Appeals in Manila, Philippines. LeAnne Jazul/Rappler The Court of Appeals says the Quezon City Regional Trial Court 'did not act with grave abuse of discretion in denying' Chao Tiao Yumol's motion to quash the carnapping charge MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the carnapping charge against Chao Tiao Yumol, the suspect in the 2022 shooting inside Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City. The CA’s 13th Division denied Yumol’s petition challenging an earlier decision by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC), which had denied his motion to quash the carnapping case. Three died — including former Lamitan City, Basilan mayor Rose Furigay, her longtime aide Victor George Capistrano, and Ateneo security guard Jeneven Bandiala — after Yumol opened fire on July 24, 2022, before the graduation rites of Ateneo Law School in the Quezon City campus. Yumol, a physician, was a known sworn enemy and staunch critic of Furigay, according to a Rappler report. While attempting to flee the crime scene that day, Yumol had allegedly taken a private vehicle before later abandoning it at a gas station along Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City. He was eventually arrested by authorities. (TIMELINE: What happened during the Ateneo shooting incident) Yumol, who is facing murder charges, had argued for the separate carnapping charge to be absorbed in the murder charges, saying the vehicle was allegedly taken merely to facilitate his escape. He also called the information on the carnapping charge defective as it merely stated legal conclusions. But the CA said the information — which identified the vehicle, its registered owner, its driver, and how it was taken — “sufficiently alleged acts constituting the offense defined and punished” under Republic Act No. 10883 or the New Anti-Carnapping Act of 2016. “Consequently, the RTC did not act with grave abuse of discretion in denying petitioner’s motion to quash and sustaining the Information,” the court said in its 15-page decision written by Associate Justice Michael Ong. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading