THE PHILIPPINES. SUPREME COURT REBUKES THE COURT OF APPEALS ON DEATH PENALTY CASE

the Philippine Supreme Court rebuked the Court of Appeals for dismissing an appeal on a death penalty case that the appellate court should have automatically and mandatorily reviewed even though the appeal was abandoned by the death convict. In a unanimous full-court decision the High Court said the "review by the Court of Appeals of the trial court’s judgment imposing the death penalty is now automatic and mandatory."
It said that the review of a death penalty decision "cannot be waived either by the accused or by the courts, since the fundamental law makes the review of all death-penalty cases mandatory regardless of the wish of the accused or the will of the court." The decision also said that under the Rules of Court, a notice of appeal is not necessary on a death penalty decision handed down by the trial court and the Court of Appeals "shall automatically review the judgment."
"It was thus completely erroneous for the Court of Appeals to consider the accused’s appeal as abandoned for his failure to file his appellant’s brief, more so to dismiss it on that ground," the Supreme Court said.
With the ruling, the High Court remanded the case of Isidro L. Flores of Makati City to the Court of Appeals for appropriate action and disposition. Flores had been charged with and convicted of 181 counts of rape and sentenced to death by the regional trial court on August 27, 2004.