Politics, sabotage in Espinosa case – DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — The dismissal of drug charges against businessman Peter Lim and self-confessed drug trader Kerwin Espinosa has been blown out of proportion, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said yesterday.

Aguirre lamented that some quarters are out to destroy him, seeing political agenda in the attacks.

Critics called out for Aguirre’s resignation over the preliminary dismissal of complaint by the Philippine National Police (PNP) against Lim, Espinosa and others.

Aguirre said he sees political agenda in the calls for his resignation due to the possibility of him and his son joining the midterm elections next year.

“I think there’s already politics involved here,” Aguirre stressed in a phone interview.

Aguirre explained his son Aris announced last month his plans to run for congressman of Quezon province to challenge the “political dynasty” of the Suarez family.

“My son Aris declared that he would run for congressman in the third district of Quezon. That is really the district of Suarez dynasty. For 30 years their dynasty did not have any challenger and only had token resistance,” he said.

Aguirre said he was also being urged to run for governor of the province by Quezon’s three representatives.

“They told me that only I can unite Quezon and that I should run for governor and they would unite behind me,” he said.

When asked about reports that he would run for senator next year, Aguirre said he has no plans yet as he would rather focus on his duties at the DOJ.

“If I will be asked to run by the President, maybe I would like to follow. But I am not a political person. Even if my father and brother were mayors in Mulanay, Quezon, I only give support to politicians but I’m never a politician,” he said.

Blaming the leak

Aguirre also believed that the resolution of prosecutors dismissing the charges against Lim and Espinosa was leaked to the media by some people in the DOJ with ill motive.

He said the resolution was leaked because it was not final yet as DOJ rules provide for automatic review by his office on dismissed drug charges.

Aguirre said that since the PNP filed an appeal, the prosecutors could still reverse the earlier findings and file the cases in court. In that case, the resolution dismissing the complaint would no longer have any bearing, he said.

“I don’t know if the intention is to humiliate me, but definitely the intention is not good,” he said.

Aguirre believes there are DOJ personnel who remain loyal to the previous leadership, referring to former justice secretary and now detained Sen. Leila de Lima.

“As a matter of fact, some people there even helped Leila de Lima in filing cases against me. She had many people here in DOJ even up to now. Remember she was here for six years and we’re just here for less than two years,” he said.

The DOJ resolution dated Dec. 20, 2017 was not officially released to the media, and only obtained by reporters last week.

Still, Aguirre reiterated Lim and Espinosa are not yet exonerated of the criminal charges.

He again suggested to the PNP to submit more evidence – including the admission by Espinosa in the Senate – to bolster their case against the respondents.

“If they submit that affidavit of Kerwin then the case will be stronger and the chances of reversal will be higher,” he said.

Aguirre has already created a new panel of prosecutors to resolve the motion for reconsideration filed by the PNP-CIDG last month.

He also directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe and conduct case buildup on, if warranted, possible liabilities of Assistant State Prosecutor Michael John Humarang and Aristotle Reyes, the two members of the panel that conducted preliminary investigation on the case and dismissed the charges.

But Aguirre clarified the NBI probe is meant to give the prosecutors opportunity to explain their side as he batted for their competence and credibility. He said Reyes has in fact been recently appointed judge of Lucena City regional trial court.
Sen. Francis Escudero said Aguirre could have acted immediately against the prosecutors if he truly did not agree with their findings or if they did not follow his orders by suspending them immediately.

On the part of the prosecutors, Escudero said that they should have coordinated with the CIDG if they saw there were problems with the case they prepared against the drug personalities.

In particular, Escudero said the admission made by Espinosa that he was a drug dealer during the Senate hearings should not have slipped past the CIDG or even the DOJ because this was widely reported and was contained in the committee report prepared after the probe.

He said the government cannot afford to let this particular issue pass because it would be a slap on the faces of the people who have been working hard to implement the campaign against illegal drugs, particularly the PNP.

“The biggest impact of this is that people will question if the administration is really serious in addressing drugs. This will be a test case to see how serious it is in addressing illegal drugs,” Escudero said.

Escudero said the recommendation of the prosecutors to clear Lim and Espinosa and convicted drug personality Peter Co has caused many Filipinos to question the sincerity of the administration in eradicating the drug problem in the country.

He said this development has reinforced the argument of the critics of the war on drugs about how the administration has been hard on the small dealers and pushers and soft on the drug lords. – With Marvin Sy