SC clears judges Rody linked to drug trade

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday cleared three judges publicly tagged by President Duterte as protectors of the illegal drug trade.

In a resolution, the high court said that based on evidence presented by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), it found no prima facie case against Judges Exequil Dagala of the Dapa-Socorro municipal circuit trial court in Surigao, Adriano Savillo of the Iloilo City regional trial court and Domingo Casiple of the Kalibo RTC in Aklan.

The SC also held that the premature disclosure of the names of the judges put their lives in danger and damaged their reputation.

While the SC cleared the three judges, it has deferred ruling on the case of another judge – Antonio Reyes of the Baguio City RTC – as the retired magistrate conducting the probe is still waiting for a reply from the Philippine National Police and PDEA on his query about the judge.

With its resolution of the issue, the SC called on judges’ organizations “to take up issues that have surfaced in the investigation in order to further enable the rule of law as far as judges conduct is concerned – so as to protect the lives and reputation of the judges and court personnel even as the Court disciplines its own ranks.”

The SC cited a fact-finding investigation conducted by retired associate justice Roberto Abad on the matter.

“Acting on his report, the Court found that no prima facie case has been established against the said judges. It was constrained to terminate the investigation considering that despite repeated pleas, the PDEA insisted that no witness is willing to come forward and that it has exhausted the documentary evidence it can submit,” the high court said.

The SC said despite the lack of response from authorities, Abad took extraordinary steps to obtain evidence “because of the grave public import of the President’s comment.”

The retired magistrate has managed to acquire financial and commercial documents about the judges and found no evidence to confirm or corroborate allegations against the three judges.

“The Court also noted that the judges had been placed in danger and that their reputations had been damaged by the premature announcement of their alleged involvement in the drug trade which the investigation had revealed as unwarranted,” it stressed.