Why I defend accused in Pestaño case

The Office of the Ombudsman, notorious for dismissing complaints of unexplained wealth against patently corrupt government officials and employees, made a grave mistake in dismissing 10 Navy officers and enlisted men for a crime that I believe they never committed.

Except for two, who have retired or passed on, the others had a bright future in the Navy when the Ombudsman fired them unceremoniously.

The 10 were linked to the death of Ensign Phillip (not Philip) Pestaño 17 years ago.

Experts ruled the young officer’s death a suicide, and the 10 were cleared on June 15, 2009, by the very same office that recently dismissed them.

Issuing flipflopping resolutions is not new in the Office of the Ombudsman since there are rumors that “money talks” when it issues decisions.

An example is the case of a corrupt Customs official who was found guilty of unexplained wealth but was reinstated later.

This official boasted to friends he paid off millions of pesos to Ombudsman insiders for his reinstatement.

In the case of the 10 Navy officers and enlisted men, they didn’t have the means to bribe Ombudsman insiders so their 2009 acquittal would remain.

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Some friends have warned me that taking up the cudgels of the dismissed officers and men would again place me in a bad spotlight.

They say I would again be accused of defending murderers, as I was accused in the past of defending “murderers and rapists.”

I don’t give a heck! I write this column not to please my readers, but to inform and purvey the truth as I see it.

I believe those 10 Navy officers and men are innocent; they went through the wringer and were exonerated three years ago.

Why they are again being prosecuted for a crime of which they were cleared is a mystery.

In addition to the dismissal order, the Ombudsman has filed murder charges against the 10  in  the Sandiganbayan.

The Office of the Ombudsman really works in mysterious ways.

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The bases for the dismissal by the Office of the Ombudsman are the findings of three law enforcement agencies—Western Police District (since renamed Manila Police District), Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and National Bureau of Investigation—that Pestaño committed  suicide.

Plus, the findings of Dr. Raquel Fortun, a private forensic pathologist hired by Pestaño’s parents, that Phillip killed himself.