MANILA — The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday said it is looking into the circumstances behind the dismissal of the murder cases filed against National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor Liza Maza and three other former party-list lawmakers before the Palayan City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Nueva Ecija.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, however, clarified that his order to Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon regarding the matter has nothing to do with the call of lawyer Ferdinand Topacio for them to look into the case.
“We are doing it on our own. We’re checking it with the provincial prosecutor as to what happened,” the DOJ chief said in a text message Tuesday.
In an order by Judge Trece D. Wenceslao, the Palayan City RTC also voided the arrest warrants issued against Maza, former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael “Paeng” Mariano, and former Bayan Muna House Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino.
The four were accused of murder for the death of supporters of Akbayan partylist namely Carlito Bayudang, Jimmy Peralta and Danny Felipe in 2006.
In junking the cases, the court said there is no probable cause to warrant the indictment of the four for the murder charges.
Then, in 2008, Judge Evelyn Turla remanded the case to the City Prosecutor’s Office for further investigation prompting Maza and the former lawmakers to take the case to the Supreme Court. In a 2017 ruling, the high court ordered Turla to rule on the case.
Turla issued a warrant for the arrest of the four. However, she inhibited from the case.
“Considering that the evidence on hand absolutely fails to support a finding of probable cause against accused-movants, the motion for reconsideration with prayer to quash warrants of arrests is hereby granted…the instant cases are dismissed,” the court said.
Topacio, a member the Citizens’ Crime Watch, in a radio interview said that they find the action of Wenceslao junking the murder cases against Maza, former Bayan Muna party-list representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino and former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano dubious.
The lawyer called on the DOJ to look or investigate, if necessary, why the prosecutors did not oppose the motion for reconsideration filed by the four seeking the dismissal of the cases against them. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
