Echiverri cleared of criminal charges

Reversing its earlier findings, the Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the dismissal of criminal charges filed against Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri over the arrest of parking attendants in 2004.

In a resolution approved earlier this month, the Ombudsman said that the case against Echiverri seemed to be politically motivated and was filed belatedly.

It also noted that the arrests were authorized by law since the parking attendants were found to be violating a city ordinance, which the mayor had the authority to enforce.

Echiverri was charged before the Sandiganbayan in June over the alleged unlawful arrest of employees of Jadewell Parking Systems Corp. and for preventing them from enforcing a street pay parking system in 2004. The contract for the parking scheme had been suspended that same year through a city ordinance.

The filing of the case was based on an order issued by then acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro who found the mayor liable for the arrests, a finding that Echiverri contested.

But in its new ruling, the Office of the Ombudsman, through the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), said that based on the statements of  Jadewell employees, it appears that they were just taken to Echiverri’s office for questioning and were not detained at the city jail.

It added that the publication in a newspaper of a photograph depicting the mayor as having arrested the parking attendants was “irrelevant and hearsay at best.”

And assuming that arrests were made, the Office of the Ombudsman said that at that time, Echiverri had received reports that Jadewell employees were still collecting parking fees despite the suspension of the pay parking scheme.

Considering that they were violating the city ordinance and had not denied the accusation against them, it said that Echiverri had the authority to enforce the laws in his jurisdiction.

It also said that when the Jadewell employees did not honor the suspension of the pay parking operations in Caloocan, their acts constituted disobedience to a person in authority.

“All told, the alleged arrest was authorized by law and the facts and circumstances thereon provide a reasonable ground therefore,” it added.

The OSP also said that the filing of a complaint against Echiverri for unlawful arrest seemed to be an “afterthought … if not vested with political or ulterior motive.”

It noted that the filing came after another case against the mayor—this time for graft and violation of the code of conduct for public officials in connection with the suspension of the pay parking operations—was dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman.

It added that the alleged unlawful arrests were not even recorded in the police blotter and that it took more than a year before the parking attendants attested to the truthfulness of the contents of their affidavits.

It also took another year for the complaint to be filed, it added.

Given these findings, the OSP asked the Sandiganbayan First Division to withdraw the criminal case against Echiverri and cancel his arraignment, which was supposed to take place on December 1.