Gerry Ortega’s family lawyer asks DOJ to rule on petition

PATRICIA Ortega (first from right), wife of murdered environmentalist and broadcaster Gerry Ortega, together with former Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn and lawyer Alex Avisado. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The lawyer for the family of Gerardo “Gerry” Ortega has called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve the family’s petition to reconsider the decision of a panel of investigating prosecutors to dismiss murder charges against former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes and his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, the primary suspects in the 2011 slaying of the journalist and environmental activist.

In a statement, lawyer Alex Avisado urged Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to pursue proceedings on the petition for review despite her department’s pending plea for the Supreme Court to uphold the arrest warrant issued against the Reyes brothers after a second panel found probable cause to put them on trial.

Earlier this week, De Lima said she could not act on the Ortega family’s petition for review because this may affect the DOJ appeal in the Supreme Court.

Avisado does not agree.

“By acting on the petition for review, it does not mean that she (De Lima) no longer believes in the strength and merits of the (DOJ) appeal (at the Supreme Court),” Avisado said.

“It simply means that due to the exigencies of the times, pendency of the case for five years and her coming resignation, the [justice] secretary needs to act and act fast in order to prevent an impending miscarriage of justice—the dismissal of the case by the [Supreme Court] due to a technicality,” he added.

De Lima is expected to step down as justice chief after she declares her candidacy for senator in the May 2016 elections.

The Reyes brothers were arrested on the resort island of Phuket in Thailand on Sunday. They arrived in Manila early yesterday and Malacañang said it was “imperative” that the murder charges against them be pursued.

“[The] repatriation of the Reyes brothers should lead to the forward movement in legal proceedings that would hopefully ensure that the ends of justice will be met. Applicable rules on detainees will be applied to them,” Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.

Asked later what happens to the case after De Lima leaves the DOJ to run for a seat in the Senate, Coloma replied: “Regardless of who occupies the position of justice secretary, it is imperative that the case be pursued.”

The first DOJ panel that investigated Ortega’s Jan. 24, 2011 shooting dropped murder charges against the Reyeses for insufficient evidence.

De Lima later formed a second panel, which found probable cause to indict the Reyeses, leading to the filing of murder charges against the brothers in January 2012.

The Court of Appeals, however, nullified the creation of the second panel, invalidating the indictment and issuance of arrest warrants for the Reyes brothers.

The DOJ elevated the case to the Supreme Court to ask that the second panel resolution be upheld.

The Reyeses had been tagged as masterminds of the assassination of Ortega, who criticized Palawan officials for alleged misuse of the provincial government’s earnings from the Malampaya gas field in the province.

The gunman, Marlon Recamata, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013.

“We believe that the higher demands of substantial justice should compel the [justice] secretary to adopt a different position in order to avoid any suspicion that she could be protecting the Reyes brothers as the former counsel of Gov. Joel Reyes,” Avisado said.

Joel Reyes was a client of De Lima when she was still an election lawyer, a fact that she had divulged to the Ortega family.

“With due respect, Secretary De Lima does not need to withdraw the appeal that is pending before the [Supreme Court]. If she resolves the petition for review, the appeal before the [Supreme Court] will just be rendered moot and academic,” Avisado said. With a report from Nikko Dizon

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