In Defense of Bacal
The accident last week involving Kagawad Aldrin Bacal which resulted to the death of a 14-year old boy would have been an ordinary accident that occur everyday all over the country.
What made the accident sensational in the news was because Bacal is a public official being a councilor of Cagayan de Oro City. He hugged the headlines and was subjected to all sorts of speculations and innuendos which, at times, were unfair, to the good councilor.
However, an unbiased review of the facts surrounding the accident would show that the truth has not been divulged by some news reporters who have personal reasons to twist a little the fact to serve some hidden agenda.
It is true that Kagawad Bacal admitted that he had imbibed alcohol before he drove his Toyota Revo home early dawn of Thursday. Certainly, driving under the influence of alcohol is prohibited by Law and we should serve the penalty for such violation. The rest of the story however bears stressing.
An accident may happen anytime by a congruence of forces and circumstances which man will not be able to avoid. Hence, whether Kag. Bacal was under the influence of alcohol or not, the boy would still have been killed if he indeed drove his bike right smack into the path of Bacal’s vehicle in so short a span of time for Bacal to avoid hitting the boy.
The real legal issue in this case is whether or not Kag. Bacal drove his vehicle recklessly and with negligence or imprudence or lack of foresight which resulted to the death of the boy. Kag. Bacal still have to be charged in court for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide. However, just like in any other criminal charge, Kag. Bacal is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
This offense carries a penalty of imprisonment of less than six years and anyone convicted of this offence could apply for the benefit of provision and will never stay a day in prison until the probation program is served out. Kag. Bacal will be treated like any ordinary accused.
Kag. Bacal also could avail of bail bond for his temporary liberty pending trial, just like any ordinary man. The problem of the prosecutors in this particular case is that the family of the deceased boy repeatedly stated in tv and radio interviews that they would attend to the filing of the appropriate charges against Kag. Bacal only after the burial of their child. This only means one thing — Kag. Bacal will have to be released from detention or from the custody of Vice-Mayor Emano because there is yet no legal basis to detain him because there are no charges against him.
Thus, technically speaking, Kag. Bacal is a free man and could go wherever he wants because there are no criminal charges filed against him yet.
As to the allegation that he figured in a hit-and-run incident, the same certainly is not true. Any practical and logical man would not stay in the scene of the accident especially when a boy is seriously injured because the family and neighbors of the boy will most certainly harm the vehicle driver. In the case of Kag. Bacal, he spontaneously declared that he had to leave the scene of accident and surrendered himself to Vice-Mayor Vicente Emano who then advised him to report the accident to the Police Station to where he then went.
Those were the only acts legally required of Kag. Bacal. The matter of financial assistance to the family of the boy is a matter of personal decision of Kag. Bacal. There is yet no legal obligation to provide financial support, although a moral obligation may already exist. In fact, the law provides that extending financial obligation to the family of the deceased in cases like this is not an admission of neither criminal nor civil liability.
Kag. Bacal would also cannot go for fear of his personal safety because passions are still very high and the relatives of the boy might hurt him.
While I take pity and compassion on the family of the boy for the unfortunate incident that resulted to a great loss of the life of a child, I also take the defense of Kag. Bacal in taking pity also of him to be subjected to wrong perceptions and false accusations and unfair innuendos just because people have misunderstandings of the law and some news reporters have the tendency to make unfair commentaries against the man just because he is an elective public official.
In the end, the courts of law will render justice to whom justice is due. But in the end of the day also a workable compromise may be entered into between Kag. Bacal and the family of the boy. In that, the feelings of loss and the wounds of despair would heal and both parties could move on in their lives.
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