Action star seeks new probe on cases

Aging action star Ace Vergel has appealed to the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) for a reinvestigation of criminal cases filed against him in 1995.

The actor, Ace York Aguilar in real life, asked the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 31 last Friday to order authorities to conduct separate preliminary investigations on the illegal possession of firearms and drug charges filed against him.

This will allow Vergel and his lawyer to submit evidence that would overturn the findings of the Quezon City prosecutor’s office on the cases.

Vergel questioned the move of the assistant prosecutor, who came up with one resolution for the two charges. These charges were then elevated to Branch 215 and later turned over to Branch 31.

He also said that the prosecutor’s office could not have acted on the cases in the first place because of a petition he filed with the Court of Appeals.

The charges were filed as a result of a raid conducted by policemen on Vergel’s home in La Loma on Sept. 22, 1995. They seized various firearms and prohibited drugs.

Vergel was accused of violating Presidential Decree 1866 for illegal possession of firearms and Republic Act 6425 for the prohibited drugs.

Vergel did not deny owning the firearms but claimed that those were mere air guns, the possession of which is not punishable under PD 1866. – Katherine Adraneda