MANILA, Philippines?The Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge, who handled the case against three suspected drug pushers in Taguig City in 2007, on Thursday denied he was pressured by then Supreme Court Associate Justice Dante Tinga and his son Sigfrido, Taguig?s mayor, into dismissing the suit.
Judge Raul Villanueva, former acting presiding judge of Taguig RTC Branch 267, said he had already replied to the allegation contained in the disbarment complaint submitted on Feb. 17 to the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Roquero, a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) intelligence officer.
Villanueva, in a letter addressed to Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot, denied that he had acted as legal counsel for or gave special treatment to suspects Alberto Tinga, Fernando Tinga and Allan Carlos.
The judge, now assigned to Las Pińas RTC Branch 255, said he handled the case in the same manner that he treated other cases pending before him.
Purely legal
?All this unfair and misplaced allegations against me have been addressed and disputed based on what really happened and what is the truth. This is unfortunate that the media is being used to put me in a bad light over a complaint that is supposed to be treated with confidentiality based on the procedures being observed in the judiciary,? Villanueva said.
He added that what ?this achieved was to personally malign me, tarnish my reputation and publicize a matter that is purely legal in nature.?
Roquero claimed that the case against the three suspects was dismissed notwithstanding ?the strong and sufficient evidence of the prosecution by the mere demurrer to evidence submitted by the defense.?
Also, he claimed that the judge ?rendered a verdict without any legal basis considering the testimony of the witnesses and evidence, including a chemistry report, presented during the trial.?
Villanueva said his Dec. 18, 2009, order that cleared the trio of the charges had legal basis, adding that the Supreme Court rulings applicable to the case were stated.
Evidence questioned
In dismissing the case based on the demurrer, a pleading submitted by the accused questioning the pieces of evidence presented to the court by the prosecution, Villanueva said he was merely doing his job. ?I did not go outside of the facts and circumstances obtaining in the instant case,? he said.
The three suspects were arrested during a sting operation on July 11, 2007 in front of a house, the ancestral home of the family of the former Supreme Court associate justice and the Taguig mayor.
Among the other facts that the court had established was that Carlos was not around when Roquero was transacting with Fernando Tinga. Roquero told the court that Carlos was found sleeping on a sofa during the search of the premises. Villanueva said no evidence was presented to show that Carlos had participation in the sale of the drugs.
Roquero also stated that he transacted for the purchase of P1,200 worth of ?shabu? (methamphetamine hydrochloride) but the buy-bust money bills he had in him amounted to only P400.
No photos taken
The judge said that PDEA agents who conducted the operation also failed to secure the presence of all the required representatives that should be present when the shabu and drug paraphernalia seized were being inventoried. No photograph of these were taken. The drug paraphernalia was not even offered in evidence.
The prosecution even failed to show any conspiracy between the three suspects in engaging in drug pushing, and to show proof that they were drug users, according to Villanueva.
