CA fetes retiring justice

Justice Wenceslao Agnir dismissed yesterday claims that he was promoted to the Court of Appeals because he threw out the murder charges against policemen involved in the 1995 Kuratong Baleleng case.

"What is important is that I knew in my heart that Kuratong Baleleng or not, I was qualified and prepared to be a magistrate of this Court," he said, referring to his May 1999 promotion to the CA from the Quezon City regional trial court.

Agnir was the judge who dismissed the multiple murder charges against former PNP chief and now Senator Panfilo Lacson, along with 37 others, who were all accused of summarily executing the bank robbers along Commonwealth Avenue.

"At that time, some people said that I was promoted because of the Kuratong Baleleng case. But I ignored the unkind insinuations. What I have recounted is my judicial odyssey, so to speak," he said in simple testimonial rites during his last en banc session.

"In the CA, I can say that I found my Camelot, in more ways than one. Because I enjoy writing decisions. I was in my natural element, in a manner of speaking. When I write a decision, I like to think that I am satisfying my creative instinct."

"It’s time to say my thank you’s and my goodbyes," said Agnir, who first joined the judiciary in 1990. In 1995, he was transferred to Quezon City.

Prior to that, he said he spent 26 years of his life as corporate lawyer for Far East Bank, where among his colleagues was Rep. Oscar Moreno of Misamis Oriental, one of the prosecutors of jailed former President Estrada.

Agnir is married to Lilia Castro of Vintar, Ilocos Norte. They have four children – Ma. Cristina, Lilibeth, Melissa Faye and Wenceslao III. They have nine grandchildren. — Delon Porcalla