14/07/2023
Justice has been rightfully served as animal cruelty is now recognized as a punishable crime under the law.
DOG KILLER IN DASMA, CAVITE FINED P120,000 AND SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT.
The dog stabbing incident involving Froilan dela Cruz in Dasmarinas, Cavite City was one of the worst cases of cruelty PAWS has ever seen.
The evilness of the act was rooted in the fact that the convicted criminal harmed the dog in order to inflict emotional and psychological pain upon its owner, Mrs. Edwina Agustin.
Edwina loved her white aspin dearly and they would even sleep in the same bed at night.
Froilan had a fight with Edwina days before the crime. To exact his revenge, he took extraordinary measures to break into her house while she was out.
Edwina’s dog, Hachiko, was friendly to everyone so he did not put up a fight when he was attacked inside his own home.
Two barangay tanods responded to reports from neighbors about the noise coming from Edwina’s
house and caught Froilan in the frenzied act of stabbing Hachiko.
Out of fear for their own lives, the tanods retreated to call for reinforcements.
After a few moments, Froilan walked out of the house in bloodied clothes. He even stumbled and fell down the stairs as the floors had become slippery from Hachiko’s blood.
[Excerpt from the tanod’s Judicial Affidavit:
“Ilang sandali pa ay nakita namin na bumaba ang nasabing a*o na duguan at hinang-hina. Kasunod na bumaba etong si Froilan dela Cruz na duguan din. Nadulas pa si Froilan dahil sa dugo ng a*o at gumulong siya sa hagdanan”]
This case was filed in 2015 but PAWS received a certification of the decision handed down only recently by MTC Branch 1 of Dasmarinas City. The Court found De la Cruz GUILTY of both Qualified Trespass to Dwelling and Violation of the Animal Welfare Act .
De la Cruz was meted the following punishment:
For Qualified Trespass to Dwelling, De la Cruz was sentenced to “suffer an indeterminate penalty of 5 months and 10 days of arresto mayor in its medium period, as minimum, to 3 years, 11 months and 17 days of prision correctional in its medium period, as maximum” and “ordered to pay Edwina Agustin temperate damages in the amount of P10,000.”
For violation of the Animal Welfare Act , Dela Cruz was sentenced to “suffer an indeterminate penalty of 1 year, 1 month and 23 days , as minimum, to 1 year, 5 months and 11 days as maximum, and to pay the fine of P100,000 to the court”. He was also “ordered to pay complainant Edwina Agustin the amount of P10,000“.
Edwina says she will never get over the horror of seeing her beloved Hachiko’s lifeless body and the trauma of having to clean up all the blood in her house but that she is glad that, finally, there is .
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PAWS’ filing of criminal cases vs individual animal offenders through the years have been key in raising public awareness about the Animal Welfare Act.
More importantly, the convictions we secure serve as a warning to those who think that there are no legal consequences to hurting animals.
These are rea*ons why PAWS will continue filing cases for as long as there are cooperating witnesses.
Our current mission: to file a criminal case against a mall security guard who threw a puppy off a pedestrian overpass.
We are grateful to netizens and witnesses who have provided information and assistance. Slowly but surely, we are building a more just and a more humane society.
