Prosecutor scolds NBI for skipping due process

OLONGAPO CITY—Even if agents of the National Bureau of Investigation are lawyers, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be respectful of your civil liberties, as befits officers of the court, and may even violate your constitutional rights.

This emerged after the Zambales provincial prosecutor Jose Theodoro Leonardo Santos scolded the NBI for turning a blind eye to basic judicial processes in charging public school teacher Ronnel Mas, who jokingly issued on Twitter a P50-million bounty on President Duterte.

Santos said in the resolution he issued on Feb. 16 that the NBI failed to provide sufficient evidence to merit the prosecution of Mas on the “inciting to sedition” charge filed against him in December.

No electronic evidence

The prosecutor said he “understands the seriousness of the remark made and the possible impact it may have created in disrupting peace and order. However, he cannot turn a blind eye to the rules of procedure, quantum of evidence and the law.”

In a seven-page resolution, Santos said the NBI failed to present any electronic evidence against Mas, not even Mas’ “confession” and other electronic evidence as required by Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

“(T)here is no evidence to impute [Mas] as the perpetrator of the alleged [tweet] inciting to sedition,” Santos’ resolution read. “In sum, nothing under this law has been complied with in the investigation and gathering of data to identify the perpetrator and effectively prosecute the same.”

Twitter post

Worse, the case was the second sedition charge the NBI filed against Mas although Judge Richard Paradeza of Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 72 had already quashed the initial charges last year because Mas was illegally arrested and the NBI submitted inadmissible evidence.

In quashing the charges on June 25, 2020, Paradeza ruled that Mas’ admission that he posted the tweet “I will give P50 million reward to whoever will kill Duterte” on Twitter was inadmissible because he made the admission without the presence of a lawyer.

Paradeza also rebuked the NBI agents for violating the 25-year-old teacher’s constitutional rights when they arrested him without warrant, an act that the judge leniently described as “inadvertent.” But the NBI pursued the case anyway.

Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro wanted some restitution for Mas.

“Those behind the harassment against teacher Ronnel should be held accountable, especially that he has been proven innocent for the second time,” Castro said as she slammed the hypocrisy of law enforcers.

“We also call for accountability to those who caused teacher Ronnel the trauma and stress that he has faced. The charges faced by Teacher Ronnel reek of double standard and refusal to follow due process,” Castro said in a statement.

—WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO