Baguio massacre suspect sentenced to 5 life terms

For repeatedly stabbing dead Kayang children 

BAGUIO CITY – A judge sentenced a massacre suspect here last week to five life sentences without parole.

Judge Mia Joy Cawed of Branch 4, Regional Trial Court here, meted five life sentences without parole in the absence of a death penalty in the country, to Phillip TolentinoAvino.

Avino was sentenced for the killing of five persons, including three minors, on April 6, 2014 inside an apartment here in Kayang-Hilltop.

“He (Avino) could have been given death for the brutal murder of the children but because the country has no death sentence, we can only give what the laws provide,” Cawed said.

Avino was sentenced to suffer reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole in the five counts of murder filed against him.

On the evening of April 9, victims Jacqueline Nociete,19; her brother Joey, 5; Dave John de Guzman,7; Raymund del Mundo,9, and housemaid Jonalyn Lozano, were found dead with multiple stab wounds inside the rented apartment of VilmaNociete, mother of the two victims.

Based on autopsy, Nociete suffered 17 stab wounds on the chest and back, eight of which proved fatal; her brother Joey sustained 15 stab wounds in the back; De Guzman suffered eight stab wounds in the chest and back; Del Mundo five stab wounds in the back; and Lozano, 13 stab wounds in the neck, abdomen, chest, and back.

After the verdict was handed down, the father of Dave John de Guzman said: “ Masaya kami sa desisyon,pero hindi maisosoli ang buhay ng mga anaknamin, subalit sa desisyongito at nabigyan ng hustisya ay mapapanatag na ang aming kalooban.” (We are happy with the court’s decision.)

VilmaNociete, mother of two of the victims, became very emotional and was shouting outside the court room. Distraught that she could not even hit the suspect with her fists, she said: “Hindi man nyo kami pinalapit sa kanya. Hindi na niy amaibabalik ang buhay ng mga anak namin.” (You did not even let me go near him.)