In this file photo from September 2012, family, relatives, and supporters of Dr. Gerry Ortega picket at the Court of Appeals in Manila. INQUIRER PHOTO
An environmental group on Wednesday called on Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima to resolve the petition for review against the 2011 findings, which cleared the Reyes brothers over the killing of environmentalist and hard-hitting broadcaster Gerry Ortega, before her resignation from the Cabinet ahead of her 2016 plans.
While saying that the arrest of former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother Mario in Thailand was “better late than never,” Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment said the “window of opportunity for a decisive swing in the prosecution of the Reyes brothers is precariously small.”
“Should Justice Secretary Leila De Lima resign soon from her position as planned, her review of an earlier DOJ ruling that attempted to absolve the Reyes brothers is threatened of cancellation by technicality. For the longest time, we know the strategy of the Reyes brothers had been hedged on technicalities. This is exactly what they want,” Kalikasan spokesperson Leon Dulce said in a statement.
“We thus demand Sec. De Lima to immediately resolve the petition for review even before her planned resignation, and ensure that she leaves behind mechanisms to effectively fast-track the Ortega case and all other pending cases involving our fellow environmentalists and activists,” she added.
Philippine police and the Philippine Embassy in Thailand have confirmed that the Reyes brothers are in custody of the Thai police and are set for deportation.
READ: Reyes brothers in Ortega killing arrested in Thailand | PH embassy in Thailand confirms arrest of Reyes brothers
If De Lima will not be able to resolve the petition, Dulce said the arrest of the Reyes brothers will appear as a “mere publicity stunt.”
“It will tarnish any future endeavor of Sec. De Lima with the questionable track record of being unable to effectively resolve any of the outstanding 86 cases of political and extrajudicial killings against environmental advocates. It will further cast a shadow of doubt on her motives, as she previously served as the Reyes’ private election lawyer,” she said.
The environmental group also criticized the administration of President Benigno Aquino III for its supposed apathy toward the Ortega slay case, saying that its alleged inaction led to the fleeing of the Reyes brothers in 2012.
“Let us not forget that in the first place, the four years’ worth of inaction over the Ortega murder not only by Sec. De Lima, but by the entire machinery of the Aquino administration. The Aquino administration’s inaction has allowed the Reyes brothers to pass through the Department of Foreign Affairs and escape to Thailand undetected, and sabotage the legal actions against them for more than four years,” the spokesperson added.
Dulce said justice can be brought to Ortega not only prosecution but also by continuing his legacy, but noted that the Aquino administration’s “climate of impunity” will be a hindrance in pursuing the slain environmentalist’s dream of a “mining-free and corruption-ridden Palawan.”
“We challenge Sec. De Lima to at least end her controversial and unproductive term as a Justice Secretary with an upward trajectory by taking action on the case of Dr. Gerry Ortega. We rest on the shoulders of the entire Aquino administration the challenge to speed up the multitude of other cases of killings, harassments, displacements, militarization, trumped-up charges, and other Marcosian attacks on the rights of environmental advocates and the Filipino people at large,” Dulce said. Yuji Vincent Gonzales/JE
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