For the second time in recent months, a Virac-born judge in Manila has found guilty a man who was accused of shooting to death his neighbor’s cat a year ago.
In the last week of April 2025, Presiding Judge Peter Steve G. Lim of the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 3 sentenced Johnmed Parungao to suffer imprisonment of two years and to pay a fine of P100,000.00.
On May 23, 2023, Poly, an orange tabby puspin (pusang pinoy) was resting under the sun as he did every morning when he was senselessly shot by Parungao.
Poly’s devastated owner, Lorna, discovered his lifeless body right by her patio with a gunshot wound to the head, and CCTV footage captured Parungao passed by her house and point a gun at the cat.
The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) supported Lorna in filing a case against the perpetrator.
Last November 2024, Judge Lim, a native of Sta. Cruz, Virac, also sentenced a Korean national for killing an “Aspin” dog and meted him a similar punishment.
The dog, Erika, was a stray who found home in a Malate restaurant and became part of the establishment.
On March 9, 2024, Jung Seongho was dining at the restaurant when he used a kitchen knife to stab the dog four times. Witnesses quickly nabbed the suspect and called law enforcement officers, who also used as evidence a video taken of the crime.
PAWS provided support during the legal pursuit, with the foreigner also charged with alarm and scandal, assault, and malicious mischief.
In his decision, Judge Lim said that the prosecution was able to prove Jung’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Evidence and eyewitness account showed that Jung charged towards Erika who was not showing any “antagonistic behavior” as she was sitting quietly in the outdoor area of the restaurant, the ruling stated. Jung stabbed her “several times causing its (the dog’s) eventual death,” it added.
The Animal Welfare Act or Republic Act 8485 protects the welfare of animals by prohibiting acts of cruelty such as maltreatment, torture, killing, and neglect. It also regulates the sale, transport, and handling of animals to ensure their welfare and protects their natural habitat.
Republic Act 10631 or Philippine Animal Welfare Act of 2013 amended certain sections of RA 8485 by providing stricter penalties for animal cruelty. It includes higher fines and longer imprisonment terms for offenders.
Sec. 6 provides that “it shall be unlawful for any person to torture any animal, to neglect to provide adequate care, sustenance of shelter, or maltreat any animal or to subject any dog or horse to dogfights or horsefights, kill or cause or procure to be tortured or deprived of adequate care, sustenance or shelter, or maltreat or use the same in research or experiments not expressly authorized by the Committee on Animal Welfare.”
SEC. 7 also declares unlawful the abandonment of an animal by any person who has custody of it, with the offense deemed maltreatment.
The amendment raised the punishment for offenders from the previous imprisonment of not less than six (6) months nor more than two (2) years or a fine of not less than P1,000.00 nor more than P5,000.00 or both at the discretion of the Court.
Under the new law, any person who subjects any animal to cruelty, maltreatment or neglect shall, upon conviction by final judgment, be punished by imprisonment and/ or fine, as indicated in the following graduated scale: (1) Imprisonment of one (1) year and six (6) months and one (1) day to two (2) years and/or a fine not exceeding One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) if the animal subjected to cruelty, maltreatment or neglect dies; (2) Imprisonment of one (1) year and one (1) day to one (1) year and six (6) months and/or a fine not exceeding Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00) if the animal subjected to cruelty, maltreatment or neglect survives but is severely injured with loss of its natural faculty to survive on its own and needing human intervention to sustain its life; and (3) Imprisonment of six (6) months to one (1) year and/or a fine not exceeding Thirty thousand pesos (P30,000.00) for subjecting any animal to cruelty, maltreatment or neglect but without causing its death or incapacitating it to survive on its own.