Prosecutor stands by dismissal of rap vs Kerwin Espinosa, Peter Lim

MANILA, Philippines — Prosecutors cannot indict respondents on a weak complaint, Assistant State Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes stressed on Thursday.

 

"It was clear in the resolution. The only witness presented by the [Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group] is Marcelo Adorco, because he is the only evidence, we are constrained to scrutinize his statement," Reyes told reporters.

 

Reyes said that he and Assistant State Prosecutor Michael Humarang found inconsistencies in the three statements submitted by Adorco.

 

"His inconsistencies in his statements affected the the credibility and veracity of his narration," Reyes clarified.

 

READ: Aguirre: PNP filed a weak complaint

 

The Department of Justice and its state prosecutors reaped criticism when news hit that drug raps against Kerwin Espinosa, Peter Lim, and a dozen others had been dropped in December.

 

According to the resolution, the DOJ found that inconsistencies in Adorco's affidavits—that include dates and place of meeting with drug suppler, timeline of drug transactions, volume of drugs involved—are "material matters" of the case.

 

This led them to dropping the PNP-CIDG's complaint.

 

Reyes also stressed that the police did not submit Espinosa's confession at the Senate—a fact admitted by Director Roel Obusan, PNP-CIDG chief, on Wednesday.

 

READ: CIDG chief confident Espinosa, Lim will be indicted on drug raps

 

"We cannot find evidence for the CIDG if the CIDG does not want to submit it. Why would we get it for the CIDG?" he added.

 

Reyes also stressed that they cannot tell the CIDG how to build its case.

 

"We cannot tell them 'add this', or 'you lack defense'. We cannot say that. We just evaluate and weigh the evidence, documents submitted to us," Reyes said.

 

Reyes and Humarang are facing a National Bureau of Investigation-led probe on whether they committed offenses when they dropped the case.

 

READ: Aguirre orders NBI to probe prosecutors who junked Espinosa, Lim drug raps 

 

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