Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Wednesday saw the need for the reopening of the Senate probe on the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. to find out why the murder charges against the police involved in the slay were downgraded to homicide.
“The best way for the Senate to be involved is to reopen the hearing and request for copies of the counter affidavits or whatever other papers or documents that the respondents filed. And ask the DOJ (Department of Justice), the panel which handled the preliminary investigation on what convinced them, or what moved them to change their mind that murder was not committed but instead homicide,” Pimentel said in an interview at the Senate.
“Kasi in fairness to everybody, we had hearings here in the Senate but of course a preliminary investigation follows a different procedure, submission of counter affidavits. So I think the best way is to reopen the hearing and then require the submission of these counter affidavits so that the senators will have the transcript before them…” he said.
Pimentel, a lawyer, said it was possible that the testimonies given during the Senate investigation were different from that of the counter affidavits submitted in court.
In March, the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson recommended the filing of murder charges against the policemen led by Supt. Marvin Marcos for the killings of Espinosa and another inmate, Raul Yap, while inside the sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte in November last year.
READ: Senate probers find cover-up in mayor’s killing
The DOJ had filed murder charges against the policemen but it was later downgraded to homicide.
While the Senate could not compel the court to reverse its decision, Pimentel said the Senate blue ribbon committee can “demand accountability of our public officials.”
“So if we believe that there’s something fishy that happened here, some corrupt practice happened here, then malalagot sila sa (they will answer to the) blue ribbon committee…” the Senate leader said.
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who is also a lawyer, said the Senate can file a case against Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II or cite him in contempt if there was evidence to prove that he had committed wrongdoings that resulted in the downgrading of the cases against the assailants.
READ: Aguirre open to attend Senate probe on reduced cases vs mayor’s killers
“Maraming remedies available ang Senado, actual na pagsampa ng kaso laban sa kanya kung may ebidensya. Pag-cite sa sa kanya in contempt sa ibang pagkakasabi dito noong sya’y nag appear at iba ang ginawa n’ya noong sya’y lumisan na dito. Unfortunately, na-confirmed na s’ya ng Commission on Appointments…,” Escudero said in a separate interview.
(There are plenty of remedies the Senate can do: file an actual case against him if there is enough evidence or cite him in contempt for the contradicting statements he issued here and then did after leaving. Unfortunately, he was already confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.)
The senator said Aguirre could not simply escape responsibility by saying that he was not the one who signed the resolution downgrading the charges.
“At the end of the day lahat naman ‘yan ay inaaprubahan at dadaan sa kanya (he approved and saw all these), he still has the command responsibility insofar as all of these cases are concerned especially a very popular case such as this one…Hindi man dumaan man sa kanya, wala mang umapela sa kanya, sana tiniyak n’ya na tama ‘yung ginawa ng kanyang mga subordinates (Whether his approval was sought or not or whether someone complained to him or not, he should still have made sure that his subordinates were acting in good faith),” Escudero said.
“At kung talagang gusto n’yang baguhin, pwes pwede pa rin ‘yang baguhin ‘yun, pwede n’yang i-reverse ‘yung recommendation ng kanyang prosecutor (And if he really wants to overturn it, he could have by reversing the recommendation of his prosecutor),” Escudero added. IDL