Ruling with finality, the Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld its earlier ruling clearing former Palawan Gov. Mario Joel Reyes in the 2011 killing of environmentalist Gerry Ortega, prompting Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to say she will now take her case to the Supreme Court.
“Will certainly elevate that to the Supreme Court,” De Lima said in a text message to reporters when asked to comment on the latest development in the government’s efforts to pin down Reyes and his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, on the murder of Ortega.
Ortega, a broadcaster, had denounced the misuse of the funds that the provincial government was receiving from its share of the royalties from the Malampaya gas project off the west coast of Palawan province.
The Reyes brothers have been in hiding since a warrant for their arrest was issued last year. They are believed to have gone abroad.
In a six-page decision dated Sept. 27, the CA special 10th division, voted 3-2 to deny “for lack of merit” De Lima’s motion for reconsideration on its March 19 decision.
Ortega family unfazed
The lawyer of the Ortega family said the family was “unfazed” by the CA decision, which he said was “purely based on a technicality.”
“We will continue our pursuit of justice for the murder of Dr. Gerry Ortega all the way up to the Supreme Court,” Alex Avisado said in a text message sent by Ortega’s daughter Mika to reporters.
“Now that it has been shown that Doc Gerry Ortega was killed because of his exposé on the plunder of the Malampaya Fund, it would be a travesty and an injustice to let the masterminds, ex-Gov. Joel Reyes and Mayor Mario Reyes, go free. We still believe that in the end, justice will only be for the deserving,” Avisado added.
The appellate court said its earlier ruling that cleared Governor Reyes of involvement in the murder of Ortega, who was gunned down in Palawan on Jan. 24, 2011, “stays.”
In the March 19 order, the court said De Lima had committed grave abuse of discretion when she did not rule on the petition for review filed by the wife of Ortega on a Department of Justice (DOJ) panel’s finding of no probable cause against the Reyes brothers, but instead formed a new panel of prosecutors to reinvestigate the case.
The court division nullified the DOJ resolution creating the second panel of prosecutors and its decision finding probable cause to indict the Reyes brothers for Ortega’s killing. Likewise, the court division had reinstated the June and September 2011 resolutions of the first DOJ panel, thereby clearing the Reyes brothers of Ortega’s murder.
Those who voted to deny De Lima’s motion for reconsideration were Associate Justices Angelita Gacutan, Fernanda Lampas Peralta and Francisco Acosta. Associate Justices Noel Tijam and Romeo Barza voted to grant the justice secretary’s motion for reconsideration.
In its decision penned by Gacutan, the appellate court said it did not find persuasive De Lima’s argument that the people were also an aggrieved party in the case.
Neutral arbiter
It said the duty of the DOJ was not that of a prosecutor on behalf of the complainant but to find out as a “neutral arbiter” whether a crime was committed and whether the respondent was guilty.
“Otherwise, he becomes an advocate of the complaining party and this would impinge on the substantive right of persons suspected of crimes,” the court division said of a prosecutor.
But it held that while the justice secretary had the authority to review resolutions, De Lima could review the decision of the first panel without creating the second panel.
“We stress anew, that our decision has not clipped any power of the SOJ (secretary of justice) to review the finding of any prosecutor but that power should be used by observing proper procedural protocols,” it said.
The appellate court noted that De Lima did not act on the petition for review filed by Ortega’s widow.
Second panel
The court division also did not buy De Lima’s argument that she created the second panel to prevent a miscarriage of justice, saying that in the first place, the first panel had conducted full-blown proceedings and both parties appeared at the hearings.
It also did not agree with De Lima’s argument that even if the court nullified the resolution creating the second panel, the latter’s finding of probable cause to indict the Reyes brothers was valid.
The division said this was a “dangerous stance” because it was “promotive of chaos and mischiefs in the ranks of the National Prosecution Service if any prosecutor can initiate any criminal investigation or reinvestigate without any directive from the head of the department.”
“If the act that created the second panel of prosecutors is void, it defies logic for its resolution to prevail over the resolution of the first panel created under (the DOJ order) was never declared void,” it said.
NUJP not surprised
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said it was “dismayed but not surprised” by the decision of the CA.
“Our belief remains strong that, notwithstanding the infirmities that continue to riddle our justice system, in the end, those responsible for silencing Ortega will be made to suffer for the crime they committed, not just against our colleague, not just against his family, but against the people of Palawan and of the country in general,” the NUJP said in a statement.
The group called on De Lima “to ensure that all legal proceedings connected with the prosecution of those responsible for murdering Gerry Ortega are airtight.”
“We cannot allow justice to slip away on technicalities,” the NUJP said.—With a report from Redempto Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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CA affirms ruling clearing Palawan gov in Ortega death