The Court of Appeals had granted businesswoman Helen Aguadilla’s petition for bail, nullifying an earlier denial by a Regional Trial Court Judge on the grounds that the evidence against her “is not strong enough.”

In a June 20 promulgation penned by Associate Justice Franchito Diamante, the CA nullified and set aside the resolution of RTC Branch 42 Judge Fernando Elumba denying Aguadilla bail and fixed the businesswoman’s bail at P300,000 subject to the lower court’s approval.

The CA ruled that the evidence against Aguadilla were based on hearsay.

One of the suspects in the case, Monroe Nielden Pitong, did not implicate or even mention Aguadilla’s name when he was investigated and Roming Calalang, the one who allegedly ordered him to attack guest relations officer Irene de la Peña, also did not corroborate his claim, the court noted.

Aguadilla, along with four other respondents, was tagged as the mastermind in the fatal stabbing of de la Peña on Dec. 19, 2005 in Bacolod City.

“It is not justifiable to inflict upon petitioner the indignity of preventive imprisonment when her implication to the crime rests on sketchy circumstances,” the court said.

De la Peña’s private lawyer, Vincent Petierre III, could not be contacted for comment yesterday.*PP

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