MANILA — The state prosecutors who dismissed the criminal complaint against businessman Peter Lim, self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, and 20 others said they are ready to face investigation.
“(We) welcome the reinvestigation of the case. We stand ready to face the probe malinis ang aming konsensya,” Assistant State Prosecutor Michael John Humarang said in a statement Thursday.
Humarang made the statement in response to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s order to reinvestigate the case and subject him and former Assistant State Prosecutor and now Lucena Regional Trial Court Judge Aristotle Reyes to a probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Humarang claimed the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) did not present sufficient evidence against the respondents.
“The complainant did not present sufficient evidence and instead relied only on the testimony of its sole witness,” Humarang said when sought for a comment.
“As a former prosecutor, nakakalungkot na parang ganyan ang resulta ng trabaho namin,” Reyes said in a separate statement, adding that they cannot decide against a person because of public clamor even if there really is not enough evidence.
Reyes said the probe would give them the opportunity to clear their names.
“We will submit to the investigation kasi para ma-clear din kami kung ano ang insinuation na sinasabi against us (so that we will be cleared from the insinuations against us),” he said.
Reyes said their job is to weigh the evidence presented to them against alleged criminals but that they cannot gather or look for evidence against them.
“The mandate ng (prosecutor) for preliminary investigation is to receive the complaint then evaluate the complaint if there is basis to continue with the investigation we would send a subpoena, if there is basis, we would ask the respondent to submit a counter affidavit. Once the counter affidavit is submitted, we resolve it based on the evidence presented. However, it is not in our mandate that we will require the parties to supply evidence needed. Otherwise, we would be lawyering for one of the parties. That is not our job. It’s the complainant’s problem. If they lack evidence, the case would be dismissed. If the respondent’s affidavit is weak and the complaint is strong, we will file it. That’s how it is done,” Reyes told reporters covering the DOJ in a phone interview.
“Ang prosecutor mag-act lang yan sa inihain sa kanila ng mga parties complainant and respondent. Hindi pwede sabihin na kulang ito dagdag mo ito, kulang ang defense mo dagdagan mo ito hindi kami allowed. Kami mag evaluate lang at mag weigh ng evidence ng mga documents na submitted sa amin (The prosecutor will act on the documents presented by both parties, the complainant and the respondent. We will not say that this one is lacking and you should add or you must add something to your defense. We are not allowed to do that. We will evaluate and weigh the evidence of documents provided by both parties),” Reyes added.
He said if Espinosa admitted about his illegal drug transactions during the Senate investigation, it is the CIDG´s duty to get the certified transcript and attach it to the complaint filed before the DOJ.
“The CIDG did not offer the testimony of Kerwin in Senate. We cannot determine which they did not submit to the panel. They said Kerwin recanted his statement. There is nothing mentioned about that in the evidence. The evidence says Kerwin denied the allegations. We are not the one who should find the evidence for the CIDG and we are not the one who must get it from the CIDG,” he explained in Filipino.
“Maliwanag sa (It is clear in the) resolution that the only witness presented by the CIDG is Marcelo Adorco,” he noted.
The former prosecutor pointed out had Adorco been an eyewitness and was not involved in the crime, his statements will be accepted.
Apart from this, he pointed out that the three sworn statements issued by Adorco were all inconsistent with each other.
Reyes, together with Humarang, conducted the preliminary investigation on the CIDG complaint. They recommended its dismissal which was affirmed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rex F. Gingoyon and approved by acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan.
He noted they resolved the case based on evidence and law applicable, and there is no other consideration
Reyes also made clarification on the release of resolution which dated December 20, 2017 but was originally released on January 18, 2018 with Prosecutor General approval and signed.
“The draft resolution was dated December 20. The process is that once the draft is signed, it will be forwarded to the division chief for review, revision or evaluation. The division chief has lots of stuff to review. He has to review and make corrections. After that, it will be returned to the investigating fiscals with his corrections. Once it is returned, the corrections will be applied. And then it will be submitted again to the division chief for his approval. It will then be forwarded to the prosecutor general for review. Because there is a lot of things to review, it will again take weeks. Finally, the reviewed resolution with the signature of the division chief and the prosecutor general will be released. As far as I know, that resolution was released on January 18,” Reyes stressed.
Reyes also denied that they attempted to hide the resolution on the case.
“Hindi yan na-release ngayon lang March, hindi yan itinago, walang ganung scenario. Ang masama sana kung itinago at walang nakaka-receive, ang CIDG mismo na-receive nila. In fact, ang CIDG nag-file sila ng motion for reconsideration nung February 15. Ang problema nyan lumabas lang yun sa media late March (It was not released this March. There is no attempt to hide it. There is no such thing as a hiding scenario. If we intend to hide it, the CIDG should have not received a copy of the resolution. In fact, the CIDG filed motion for reconsideration last February 15. The problem it came out in the media in March),” he added.
Reyes said that they are planning to send an explanation addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte to enlighten him on the matter.
He, however, stood firm on his stand to dismiss the complaint against Lim and his co-respondents.
“Pag ang case mahina talaga hindi namin ipa-file sa court, otherwise, kami ang magmumukhang kawawa doon, sa husgado kami ang mangangamote dyan, kami magmumukhang tanga (When a case is weak, we don’t file it in court, otherwise, we would look stupid),” he said.
The Department of Justice on Wednesday directed the NBI to determine possible misfeasance, malfeasance or non-feasance or other legal violations by the prosecutors who dismissed the case.
Aguirre also ordered the creation of another panel that will handle the motion for reconsideration filed by the CIDG.
The new panel is composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, Assistant State Prosecutor Ana Noreen Devanadera and Prosecution Attorney Herbert Calvin Abugan while Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon will act as Prosecutor General for the case. (PNA)
