New DOJ panel calls suspected drug lords
A new panel of Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors has summoned suspected narcotics kingpin Peter Lim and confessed drug dealer Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr.
A new investigation is being conducted by the new panel after a previous group of prosecutors dismissed a police complaint against the suspects, triggering public outrage and angering President Duterte.
The new panel has summoned Lim, Espinosa and several others to the start of a preliminary investigation at the DOJ, scheduled for April 12 at 1 p.m.
On Tuesday, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) recommended the preventive suspension and investigation for graft of the DOJ prosecutors who dismissed the criminal charges brought by the police against Lim and Espinosa.
The PACC, which President Rodrigo Duterte formed last year to help him fight corruption involving his appointees, also recommended a lifestyle check on one of the prosecutors, Aristotle Reyes, who has since been promoted to judge on the Lucena Regional Trial Court.
Reyes and Assistant State Prosecutor Michael John Humarang dismissed the charges brought against the drug kingpins by the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) last December on grounds of weak evidence.
Also recommended for suspension and prosecution for graft are Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Rassendell Rex Gingoyon, for endorsing the dismissal of the CIDG complaint, and acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan, for approving the recommendation of Humarang and Reyes.
Aguirre apology
The PACC recommendation, submitted to the Office of the President on Tuesday, came a day after Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II apologized to the prosecutors for having them investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation for the dismissal of the complaint.
In a speech after the flag-raising ceremony at the DOJ compound in Manila on Monday, Aguirre apologized to the prosecutors, saying it was “not correct” for him to do that but he had to “because of the seriousness, uproar” and “outrage of the ignorant” that blew the matter out of proportion.
One of those angered by the dismissal was the President, who gave Aguirre a mouthful about considering public sentiment.
The President had tagged Lim — his wedding compadre — as one the biggest narcotics bosses in the Philippines. He said Lim was known in the drug trade as “Jaguar.”
Espinosa admitted that he was a drug dealer during the Senate investigation of the illegal drug trade in 2016.
Besides Lim and Espinosa, also cleared by the DOJ prosecutors were convicted drug lord Peter Co, Lovely Impal, Max Miro, Ruel Malindangan, Jun Pepito and several other drug suspects known only by their aliases.
New investigation
Marcelo Adorco, Espinosa’s alleged henchman who turned state witness was also cleared of drug charges.
The prosecutors said Adorco’s statements were inconsistent and the CIDG failed to submit Espinosa’s confession as evidence, making the case weak.
Aguirre has scrapped the prosecutors’ resolution and formed a new panel of prosecutors to look again into the CIDG complaint.
Investigating the case this time are Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, Assistant State Prosecutor Anna Noreen Devanadera and Prosecution Attorney Herbert Calvin Abugan.
In a statement on Tuesday, PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said the body found something “fishy” in the findings of the DOJ prosecutors.
Belgica said the prosecutors violated the law when they failed to set clarificatory hearings to determine the truthfulness of the testimonies of the parties and the veracity of the documents submitted.
“This is very disturbing. The prosecuting panel must and should have exerted all efforts to serve justice to our people and to our country,” Belgica said.
‘No basis’
Aguirre defended Humarang and Reyes again on Wednesday, saying the PACC recommendation had “no basis.”
“The complaint is without basis because they (PACC) do not know the workings and procedure of the DOJ when conducting preliminary investigation” Aguirre said in a text message.
In a joint statement, Humarang and Reyes said the recommendation was premature because the clearing of Lim and the others was “not yet final” and there was still no definite finding as to whether the respondents would be absolved.
Like all other complaints, the case brought by the CIDG would still be reviewed by the new panel of prosecutors and by Aguirre himself, they said.
“We’re just doing our sworn duty and we are ready to face the allegations against us,” they said.
“We conducted the preliminary investigation in accordance with the applicable rules and our resolution was based only on the evidence presented to us,” they said.
The PACC also took the CIDG to task for failing to submit vital evidence to the DOJ prosecutors, such as transcripts of the Senate hearings on the illegal drug trade during which Espinosa admitted that he was a drug dealer.
Last week, the CIDG, which is appealing the dismissal of the complaint, said it did not submit the confession because Espinosa had retracted it.
But the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG) said it had an extrajudicial confession by Espinosa, which it had submitted to the Senate and it could be used to bolster the CIDG case in the DOJ.
Chief Supt. Albert Ferro, the DEG director, said the extrajudicial confession was taken in November 2016 but a copy was not given to the CIDG because the DEG predecessor that took it had been dissolved on orders from the President. —With a report from Tetch Torres-Tupas
