Judge Santos Gil of the Regional Trial Court Branch...

Judge Santos Gil of the Regional Trial Court Branch 6 in Tacloban City meted the death penalty on a 45-year-old man for killing a 4-year-old boy in August 1995.
In his 14-page decision, the judge said he decided to impose the death sentence on Fortunato Emnas because of "aggravating circumstances," primarily because the boy was killed in his own home and the suspect clearly abused his superior strength.
Court records showed that Emnas killed the boy by hacking him to death when he and his brother, Ronolfo, forcibly entered the victim's house in Sitio Batang Guti, Barangay Uban in Babatngon, Leyte, around 11 p.m. of August 20, 1995.
Fortunato, according to the records, hacked to death the 4-year-old boy after the boy's father, Efren Hermano, refused to accept their challenge to a fight.
The co-accused, Ronolfo, Fortunato's brother, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of homicide and is now serving his sentence at the Abuyog, Leyte Penal Colony.