Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has ordered the filing of murder charges against former Gapan Mayor Ernesto Natividad and two others for the killing of Ericson and Ebertson Pascual in a Nueva Ecija cockpit in 2006.
Also ordered charged were Romeo Natividad and Ricardo Peralta. In directing the filing of charges against the three men, Morales reversed a 2009 ruling of the Office of the Ombudsman that had excluded them from the murder case filed earlier against six other individuals for the Pascuals’ killing.
The killings were allegedly motivated by politics.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) initially ordered the filing of murder charges against the suspects in 2009, and the case was forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman for review because a public official was involved.
The Office of the Ombudsman affirmed the DOJ ruling on Feb. 10, 2009, but later reversed this in an April 8, 2009, order and excluded the Natividads and Peralta from the murder case based on their motions for reconsideration.
In her Dec. 19 order, Morales granted the motion for reconsideration of the Pascuals’ mother, Cristina, and said that in the first place, the Office of the Ombudsman should not have reversed its Feb. 10 ruling that had affirmed the findings of the DOJ.
She also said based on the statements of credible witnesses, there was probable cause to file the murder charges against the Natividads and Peralta.
According to the Ombudsman, the DOJ ruling should have been affirmed outright because the Natividads and Peralta filed their motions for reconsideration too late. She said they only had five days to file the motion and this period lapsed before they could submit their appeal.
Since the motions for reconsideration were filed late, the Office of the Ombudsman’s Feb. 10 ruling affirming the DOJ’s findings had become final and executory.
Morales also said that even if the motions for reconsideration were filed on time, the Office of the Ombudsman should not have granted these.