Guevarra out to form own DOJ strike force

JUSTICE DEP’T REVAMP Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra (third from left) tours the DOJ complex preparatory to directing all assistant secretaries and undersecretaries to hand in their unqualified courtesy resignations. —LYN RILLON

The grip of President Rodrigo Duterte’s fraternity brothers on the Department of Justice (DOJ) may be coming to an end.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday confirmed that he had directed all assistant secretaries and undersecretaries at the DOJ — including four members of the Lex Talionis fraternity, which counts the President and former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II among its alumni — to hand in “unqualified courtesy resignations.”

“All sitting DOJ undersecretaries and assistant secretaries have [already] tendered their courtesy resignations,” Guevarra said in a text message to the Inquirer.

Asked if he would reappoint some of them, he said: “I can only recommend. The final action is with the President, who appointed them.”

Lex Talionis brods

“You will see… [I’m] still forming my strike force,” Guevarra added.

Four of the five justice undersecretaries — Erickson Balmes, Antonio Kho Jr., Reynante Orceo and Raymund Mecate — are all members of Lex Talionis, along with Assistant Secretary George Ortha II.

Undersecretary Deo Marco, on the other hand, is a son of another member of Lex Talionis — Latin for “law of retaliation.”

Guevarra, the former senior deputy of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, earlier said the President had instructed him to weed out “those who are generally perceived … to be engaged in wrongdoing” in the DOJ.

In his first speech before the DOJ employees, Guevarra said the department and the agencies under it were “suffering from a huge image problem.”

“The (DOJ) building remains the same, but it’s somehow corroded inside; it looks solid but its structural integrity is suspect both literally and metaphorically,” he said.

“So it is my personal mission to restore the DOJ’s dignified and respectable image, to make it a cornerstone and not a mere pillar of our justice system,” he added.

Free hand

Balmes said he, Mecate and Kho immediately filed courtesy resignations when Guevarra was appointed by the President to replace Aguirre, who resigned on April 5.

In a memorandum dated April 24, a copy of which was obtained by reporters on Monday, Guevarra ordered the senior justice officials, except career executives, to relinquish their posts not later than April 30.

He said he issued the directive to give himself “a free hand to perform the mandate given to [me] by the President.”

Members of Lex Talionis, which the President joined when he was a law student at San Beda College in the 1970s, were named to key positions in the DOJ and other government agencies after Mr. Duterte came to power in June 2016.

Two frat members — resigned Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles — were recently ordered arrested by the Sandiganbayan after they were indicted for plunder for allegedly extorting P50 million from Macau gambling tycoon Jack Lam.