Ping given 10 days to answer KB raps

The Supreme Court (SC) directed yesterday presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson and 33 other accused in the Kuratong Baleleng case to answer a petition filed by government lawyers seeking to have them arrested for the murder of 11 members of a robbery gang in May 1995.

Aside from 32 police officers and two civilians, the SC also ordered Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 Judge Theresa Yadao to justify her dismissal of the case for lack of probable cause.

"The Court resolved, without giving due course to the petition, to require the respondents to comment within 10 days from notice," the SC said in its one-page en banc resolution.

In its order, the SC enumerated the names of Lacson’s 33 co-accused, some of whom have retired or gone on absence without leave (AWOL). Others are still in active service.

Those who retired were then Chief Superintendents Jewel Canson and Romeo Acop, then Senior Police Officer 4 Vicente Arnado, SPO2 Rolando Jimenez and SPO1 Wilfredo Cuartero. Canson reportedly left the country in February last year.

Those who have gone AWOL were Senior Superintendent Francisco Zubia Jr., assigned at the Headquarters Support Service along with Superintendent Almario Hilario, Senior Inspector Ricardo Andan and Senior Inspector Joselito Esquivel, Inspector Cesar Tannagan, SPO4 Roberto Langcauon, SPO3 Willy Nuas, SPO3 Virgilio Paragas, SPO1 Roberto Agbalog, PO2 Osmundo Carino, PO2 Norberto Lasaga, and PO2 Leonardo Gloria. All of them have been promoted.

Those accused in the Kuratong Baleleng case but still in active service are Senior Superintendent Zorobabel Laureles, now at the National Capital Regional Police Office; Chief Inspector Jose Erwin Villacorte, Traffic Management Group; Chief Inspector Gil Meneses, NCRPO; PO2 Alejandro Liwanag, now a PO3 assigned to the Calabarzon regional police office.

The status of seven more co-accused remain unknown: SPO4 Angelito Caisip, SPO4 Antonio Frias, SPO3 Juanito Manaois, SPO2 Cecilio Morito, SPO2 Reynaldo Las Piñas and civilian agents Elmer Ferrer and Romy Cruz.

In a petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus filed earlier this month, the Department of Justice through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) asked the SC to reverse and set aside Yadao’s decision to dismiss the Kuratong case without the benefit of a trial.

State lawyers blamed Yadao’s apparent bias for the respondents, saying she "abused the trust reposed upon her as a neutral dispenser of justice."

The OSG asked the high tribunal to nullify Yadao’s orders junking the charges against Lacson and his co-accused, and declare Branch 81, presided by Yadao, as lacking in jurisdiction to try the case.

State prosecutors asked the SC to prohibit Yadao from proceeding with the case and "command" her to immediately transmit the entire record of the case to a family court since two of the victims were minors at the time of the murder.

In October last year, the SC had upheld its April 1, 2003 decision to reopen the controversial case, denying a motion for reconsideration filed by Lacson.

The case was shuffled to Yadao, who then dismissed the case in November for lack of probable cause and denied the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration last January.

State lawyers said Yadao had ruled they did not have ample witnesses and evidence, as if a trial on the merits of the case had already been held.

Delaying Tactics

Government prosecutors also accused the defense panel of engaging in delaying tactics since they have allegedly "refused to participate" in examining the two taped proceedings in connection with their motion seeking to correct the transcript of the stenographic notes (TSN).

The defense, however, likewise sought extension to comment on the motion to correct the TSN lodged by the prosecution when the deadline set for it was on March 8, 2004.

At yesterday’s hearing, only three out of the 34 respondents were able to submit their comment on the prosecution panel’s petition.

Those who managed to submit their comments on time were Lacson, and Zubia and Acop.

Canson’s lawyer asked the court to give them another five days from yesterday to submit their comment on the petition, saying they only received the copy of the motion Friday morning.

Yadao had ordered the prosecution to file a consolidated comment within five days upon receipt of the comment from Canson.

The prosecution’s motion for correction of the TSN shall be resolved only after the rejoinder is submitted to the court.

According to private prosecutor Arno Sanidad, it was the defense panel which requested that the taped proceedings be heard by the two parties for them to come out with a comment on their motion.

However, on the scheduled examination of the tapes, the defense suddenly declined to cooperate.

"The defense does not want to cooperate anymore to delay the resolution of our motion, so that the transcripts would not be corrected right away," Sanidad told reporters.

The prosecution believes that the cassette tapes containing the Kuratong Baleleng case hearings on Nov. 28, 2003 and Jan. 16, 2004, which they recorded, solidly support their motion to correct the TSN, which are considered reliable documentation of the proceedings.

The prosecution noted that they will include the issue on the alleged changes on the TSN of the two contested hearings to the Supreme Court. Sanidad said "the grossly incorrect TSN shows Yadao’s inability to judge the case objectively."

Lawyer Felix Marinas, a private prosecutor, said both panels were supposed to listen to the cassette tape recorded by the prosecution last Feb. 26 and 27, but the defense "decided not to participate anymore, they do not want to listen to the tape." — With Katherine Adraneda