DOJ chief allays fears cops in teens’ slay may soon walk

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday allayed fears that the two policemen indicted for the killing of teenagers Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman may go scot-free due to the supposed failure of state prosecutors to file the case in the appropriate court.

Guevarra said he would ask for an update on the case after Judge Georgina Hidalgo of Caloocan City Regional Trial Court Branch 122 raised the issue of jurisdiction during the resumption of the trial of Police Officers 1 Ricky Arquilita and Jeffrey Perez on Tuesday.

Admitting an error, Department of Justice prosecutors had asked Hidalgo to let them file the murder charge against Arquilita and Perez in Navotas City instead.

This was after a witness for the prosecution, Joe Daniels, testified that that Arnaiz was actually killed on C-3 Road in Navotas, not in Caloocan as what was reported previously.

The prosecutors also insisted that the separate case for torture and planting of evidence against the two officers may still be handled by Hidalgo’s court, since the offenses were allegedly committed in Caloocan.

Without prejudice

In a text message to the Inquirer, Guevarra explained that “any dismissal (of a case) based on lack of territorial jurisdiction is without prejudice to the refiling of the case before the proper (court).”

He noted that existing jurisprudence on such a legal issue would show that questions over jurisdiction should not adversely affect the prosecution of a criminal case.

“It’s just a territorial jurisdiction issue that does not affect the merits of the case,” the justice secretary explained. “In any event, I will look into the matter more closely.”

The killing of Arnaiz, a 19-year-old former student of the University of the Philippines, and the gruesome murder of De Guzman, whose body was fished out of a creek in Nueve Ecija province, in August last year sparked widespread condemnation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent drug war.

Pa just wants justice

The killings happened barely two weeks after another teenager, Kian Lloyd delos Santos, was shot dead by the police in an antidrug operation also in Caloocan.

For Arnaiz’s father, Carlito, it won’t matter where the case will be tried so long as justice is served.

“This changes nothing [whether Carl was killed] in Caloocan or Navotas,” the elder Arnaiz said “The policemen involved were still from Caloocan. Even if the charges do get transferred, this would not change what happened in the city.” —With a report from Krixia Subingsubing