Respondents in Dacera case not informed of their rights —lawyer

Some of the respondents in the Christine Dacera case were not informed of their rights to a lawyer and to remain silent when they were brought in for police questioning, their lawyer said Thursday.

JP Dela Serna and Rommel Galido, two of the three who were detained by Makati City police, said they were not read their Miranda rights, according to their lawyer Abby Portugal.

“They were not informed of their rights,” Portugal told GMA News Online.

Dela Serna, Galido, and John Paul Halili were detained by police until prosecutors ordered them released for further investigation last week.

Under the Philippine Constitution, any person under investigation for a crime has the right to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have “competent and independent counsel,” preferably of his own choice.

The term “Miranda rights” comes from a United States Supreme Court decision.

Portugal said the arrest and detention of her clients was illegal, but that they have not yet decided a next move on the issue, focusing for now on answering the criminal complaint against them.

Dacera, a 23-year-old flight attendant, was found unconscious in the bathtub of a Makati City hotel room on January 1, following a New Year’s celebration with her friends.

She was declared dead at the hospital and the reported cause of death was a ruptured aortic aneurysm.

Her family, however, believes she was drugged and sexually abused. Her friends who were with her before she died, on the other hand, claim they did not rape or kill her.

Prosecutors are investigating a police complaint for rape with homicide against 11 men to determine whether to file charges against them in court.

The National Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation of its own. —KBK, GMA News