DOJ exec condemns ‘ingrained corruption’ among ranks

The National Bureau of Investigation. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

The Quezon City assistant prosecutor who was arrested on Friday by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for bribery was released after posting bail at P60,000 on Saturday, the Inquirer learned.

Raul Desembrana regained temporary liberty even as his superior in the Department of Justice (DOJ) described his arrest as “a stern warning” to his colleagues and denounced “the ingrained practice of corruption that has permeated some of our members.”

The bail was P20,000 less than the “SOP” or bribe money that Desembrana allegedly demanded from a lawyer in exchange for the dismissal of a case against the lawyer’s clients.

Desembrana, 58, spent only a night in detention at the NBI headquarters after being brought to the Office of the Ombudsman for inquest proceedings on Friday, hours after he was arrested in an entrapment operation at a restaurant inside Quezon Memorial Circle.

On Saturday, charges of direct bribery (bail at P30,000) and violation of the code of ethics for public officials (P30,000) were filed against Desembrana in the Sandiganbayan, NBI senior agent Peter Lugay told the Inquirer.

Lugay led the NBI team that arrested the prosecutor on the complaint filed in the DOJ by doctor Alex Montes, his son Connor and their lawyer Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of People’s Lawyers.

DESEMBRANA’S mugshot taken at the NBI
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

NBI agents caught him accepting P80,000 from Cortez, which the prosecutor allegedly asked in exchange for the dismissal of an unjust vexation complaint filed against the Monteses by Reuben Espartinez, a retired military chaplain.

Alex Montes was one of the “Morong 43” health workers who were detained in 2010 by the military for alleged links with the New People’s Army.

Also on Saturday, Prosecutor General Claro Arellano warned that the DOJ and the NBI would continue conducting operations like the one that led to Desembrana’s arrest.

“The National Prosecution Service strongly condemns the ingrained practice of corruption that has permeated some of our members,” Arellano said in a statement. “All prosecutors should be continuously reminded that a public office is a public trust, and that graft and corrupt practices (whether directly or indirectly) have no place in the performance of our noble duty as prosecutors.”

Desembrana’s arrest should “serve as a stern warning and deterrent to our prosecutors,” he added. “With the continuing assistance of the NBI, we will continue to weed out these erring (members) from our ranks to ensure systematic reform in the prosecution service that will outlast us all.”

“Our role as prosecutors, first and foremost, is that justice should be afforded to everyone. We cannot, and should not, be enticed by any other consideration in the performance of our duty other than the law,” Arellano said. “All prosecutors are reminded to maintain utmost fidelity to their sworn duty and to uphold personal integrity at all times.”