CA affirms 22 alleged ASG members’ acquittal in 2002 Sulu kidnapping

The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed a lower court’s decision to acquit 22 alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf militant group connected to the August 2002 kidnapping and murder of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Patikul, Sulu.

In a 16-page decision dated 23 October 2026, the appellate court’s Fourth Division ruled that while the abductions and subsequent beheadings undoubtedly occurred, the prosecution failed to prove the identities of the 22 accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Associate Justice Eleuterio Bathan, writing for the court, noted critical flaws in the prosecution’s case.

The court pointed out that the primary witness, Florencio Mantec, failed to provide detailed physical descriptions of the captors to law enforcement immediately following her escape.

Furthermore, formal identifications occurred more than a decade after the incident, following the suspects’ arrests between 2004 and 2015.

Denying the appeal filed by the government through the Office of the Solicitor General, the appellate court affirmed the decision of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court, stressing that without absolute certainty regarding identification, the constitutional presumption of innocence must stand.

“Because she could not provide a proper prior description of the private respondents, her identification was dubious,” the ruling stated, adding that the traumatizing nature of the ordeal and the presence of numerous guards rendered the witness’s delayed identification unreliable.

“Consequently, the petitioner failed to prove that the private respondents were properly identified as the authors of the crime.”

Court records show that victims Florencio Mantec, Leonel Mantec, Cleofe Montolo, Lemuel Montolo, Florida Montolo and Norie Bendijo were conducting ministry work and selling cosmetics and herbal medicines in Taglibi, Sulu, on 20 August 2002.

After a local resident accused them of acting as military informants, the group attempted to return to Jolo but was intercepted and abducted by armed men belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group.

Captors beheaded Leonel Mantec on the night of the abduction and beheaded Lemuel Montolo the following day before demanding a P6-million ransom for the remaining hostages.