Drilon, de Lima hit for ‘epal’ remarks on Reyes brothers’ arrest

STOP using the arrest of the Reyes brothers, the accused in the death of broadcaster Gerry Ortega, to get media exposure, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, counsel for former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes, said.

“It is regrettable that since it is political season, many are jumping in to make ‘epal’ on the repatriation of our client, Governor Joel Reyes and his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, and its relation to the murder charges filed against them allegedly for the death of former Board Member Gerry Ortega,” Topacio said in a statement Wednesday.

Topacio specifically mentioned Senate President Franklin Drilon and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

De Lima confirmed the arrest of the two in Phuket, Thailand. She also said that the tentative arrival of the two is on Thursday.

Drilon, on the other hand, said the Reyes brothers’ extradition has legal basis as he cited a 1981 Treaty between the Philippines and Thailand.

“What should not be lost in the din of the ‘epalism’ is the fact that in two separate cases involving two different divisions, the Court of Appeals has struck down the basis for the arrest of the Reyes brothers,” he said.

Topacio was referring to two separate rulings of the Court of Appeals in 2013 that upheld the 2013 order of the first Department of Justice (DOJ) panel clearing the brothers in the murder of Ortega.

Topacio maintained that with the appeals court ruling, the warrants of arrest against the Reyes brothers “are thus void from the beginning.”

“As the Department of Justice had ruled earlier before politics reared its UGLY HEAD in this case in the form of Sec. De Lima, there is no probable cause against the Reyes Brothers. They should be set free at once if there is any semblance of impartial justice in this country….We insist in the innocence of the Reyes Brothers and we stand ready to defend them vigorously in any fair and square hearing untainted by political pressure and undue influence,” Topacio’s statement said.

The brothers managed to sneak out of the country before the Palawan court issued a warrant for their arrest.