Prosecutors told: Respect GMA move

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo is standing pat on her decision to order the filing of charges against the so-called “Alabang Boys” and some prosecutors of the Department of Justice despite the latter’s denial of allegations that they mishandled the case or had been bribed to clear the suspects.

“We respect their feelings but they should respect the decision of President Arroyo,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in an interview over radio dzRB.

The President issued the order upon recommendation of an independent fact-finding committee.

Senior state prosecutor John Resado, who came out with a resolution recommending the release of the Alabang Boys, would be sued for allegedly receiving bribes.

Chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuño and senior state prosecutor Philip Kimpo would be charged with negligence in the review of Resado’s resolution.

Zuño and Kimpo have denied the allegations and stood by their decision to uphold Resado’s resolution.

The President, who has designated herself anti-illegal drugs czar, has taken a hands-on approach to the case, which has sparked conflict between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Remonde defended the President’s approach to the issue.

“We have a saying that when it comes to the country’s problems, the buck stops at the Office of the President,” he said.

Remonde said the President is determined to address the problem of illegal drugs because of her “genuine love and dedication for the country and concern for the country’s youth.”

Vindication

The PDEA said it felt “vindicated” by Mrs. Arroyo’s order.

“We’re now concentrating on the case. The case (against the three suspects) should be filed soon so they could be transferred to the city jails,” PDEA spokesman Derrick Arnold Carreon said.

“But the best vindication would be if the suspects will be convicted,” he added.

The three suspects – Jorge Joseph, Joseph Tecson and Richard Brodett – were arrested by PDEA agents during a buy-bust operation in September 2008 at the Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City and in Cubao, Quezon City.

Alvaro Lazaro, chief of PDEA’s Legal and Prosecution Service, told The STAR that since Joseph and Brodett were arrested in Muntinlupa, they should be transferred to the Muntinlupa City jail. As for Tecson, Lazaro said the suspect should be moved to the Quezon City jail.

Aside from ordering the filing of charges against the drug suspects and the prosecutors, Malacañang also ordered the PDEA to conduct an administrative probe on Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino for releasing the driver of the vehicle where the sale of illegal drugs took place.

Marcelino led the buy-bust operation that led to the drug suspects’ arrest.  

But according to Carreon, the investigation of Marcelino “is very minor compared to the cases ordered filed against Resado et al.”

“He (Marcelino) is very receptive to the Malacañang order. He’s open to that,” Carreon said.

But the lawyer of Joseph, Andresito Fornier, said the President’s order was “illegal, irregular and unconstitutional,” saying the law states the review or reversal should be done within 30 days from the issuance of the resolution dismissing the case.

“Is the presidency a lawmaking institution? Are they abrogating the law?” Fornier asked.

“What was the basis for the President to intervene? There was no appeal (filed) with her (President). There is no such thing as a motu propio cognizance of a case by the Office of the President,” the lawyer said.

“Somebody who advised GMA to issue that order can be prosecuted for gross ignorance of the law,” Fornier added.

Fornier said “procedural lapses in the handling of seized items” have raised “doubts as to whether the items presented in court were the same ones seized from the suspects.”

Meanwhile, a magistrate who was in the independent fact-finding body maintained that their report to the President containing their recommendation was confidential.

“We have an instruction from the Office of the President that the report will be submitted directly to her. My lips are sealed... Our report has a confidentiality (clause),” Justice Raul Victorino said.

Rare support

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz yesterday voiced a rare show of support for Mrs. Arroyo for ordering the filing of the cases.

“Yes, I am satisfied,” Cruz said when asked to comment on the order.

However, Cruz said the issue on the Alabang Boys is still unresolved and definitely not enough to determine the sincerity of Mrs. Arroyo in her anti-drug crusade.

“This is just one very small instance when she intervened as an anti-drug czar. We have to wait and see. This is just a pebble in the sand,” he said.

“We have to see if her recommendations would be shadowed by representations from the political and wealthy forces. We have yet to see what would happen to the recommendation, like how many years will it take before we see the closure to this case. She may no longer be in Malacañang but there is still no resolution,” he said. – With Reinir Padua and Evelyn Macairan