Sandiganbayan charges PDEA exec for cursing, threatening agent
A regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, faces a grave coercion charge before the Sandiganbayan for allegedly cursing and threatening his agent.
According to information filed by the prosecution from the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon, Juvenal Azurin faces a grave coercion charge for cursing PDEA agent Jaime Clave on Nov. 13, 2013.
Azurin allegedly cursed Clave: “P— mo, Clave ha, p—mo Bobot, papatayin kita ([Expletive] Clave, [expletive] Bobot, I will kill you).”
The Ombudsman prosecutors charged Azurin of violating Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes persons who threaten another with the infliction upon the person, honor or property of the latter or his family.
The complaint was signed by graft investigation and prosecution officer Esther Velasco-Legaspi.
Set to stand as witnesses are Clave, another PDEA agent Rosenia Cabalza, a certain April Rose Mendoza, and PDEA employee Maynard Agleham.
According to Clave’s complaint affidavit, he was awakened past 12 midnight on Nov. 13, 2013, by a phone call. On the other end of the line was Azurin, who asked Clave where he was and if he had anything against him.
When Clave replied in the negative, Azurin started screaming: “P— mo, Clave ha, p— mo. Plastic ka, traydor. Napagtagpi-tagpi ko na ikaw lang ang may sama ng loob sa akin. Apat na tao ang nakausap ko. Ano ba ang sama ng loob mo sa akin? Dahil hindi ko binigay sayo yung Glock? (You’re a two-faced traitor. I’ve discovered that you have a grudge against me. I’ve talked to four people. What do you have against me, anyway? Is it because I didn’t give you a Glock?)”
Azurin further said: “Huwag kang magpapakita sa akin ha Clave. Huwag kang pupunta sa opisina. Ayaw kong makita ang pagmumukha mo (Don’t even show your face to me, Clave. Don’t go to the office, I don’t want to see your face).”
Clave said days after the phone call, Azurin relieved him and reassigned him as an intelligence officer in Nueva Vizcaya.
He also learned that Azurin suspected that he ratted him out to the deputy director general for administration, added Clave.
In his counter-affidavit submitted before the Ombudsman, Azurin “vehemently” denied that he threatened and cursed at Clave.
Azurin said he only called Clave to inform him of his reassignment to Nueva Vizcaya.
“On the date that I called Agent Clave, he alleged in his complaint that I threatened him and uttered invectives against him. I categorically, specifically, and vehemently belie and deny said allegation. The truth of the matter being I called him earlier to inform him that I will be reassigning him to another area where he can be most effective based on my assessment,” Azurin said.
Another PDEA agent, Cabalza, also issued a complaint affidavit alleging Azurin also called her at 1 a.m. on Nov. 13. But Cabalza missed the call.
In her complaint affidavit, Cabalza said on Nov. 11, she was able to talk with Azurin in his office who told her that someone was smearing his reputation with the deputy director for administration.
Cabalza said Azurin told her he would order killed the person who texted the deputy director about him.
Azurin even boasted that he had a classmate in the intelligence service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and that he would have the number of the backstabber traced, Cabalza said.
Cabalza later learned that Azurin also suspected her of backstabbing him before his superior, she further said. CDG/RC
