Raps filed vs NBI doc

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed charges of direct bribery and violation of anti-graft and corrupt practices against relieved medico-legal chief Maximo Reyes, who was arrested in an entrapment operation for extortion last June 11.

Aside from Reyes, Dr. Anthony Castro, medico legal officer assigned to the NBI-Dagupan, Pangasinan office and Dr. Jeremy Rosario, a physician at government-run Don Amadeo Perez Sr. Memorial Hospital were also charged with direct bribery and graft with the Office of the Ombudsman.

Marianito Panganiban, chief of the NBI-Special Task Force, said charges were filed Wednesday afternoon after STF agents gathered all the evidence necessary to the filing of charges against the suspects.

"With the case now with the Ombudsman, we hope to stop insinuation from different quarters that the bureau has been delaying the filing of charges against Reyes to allow him to evade prosecution," said Panganiban, whose unit carried out the entrapment operation.

Panganiban explained that the last pieces of evidence were taken from the Urdaneta police, which first received the complaint against Reyes.

STF operatives arrested Reyes inside his office last week shortly after receiving marked cash from complainant Dr. Lenette Chan, who requested the NBI-Medico Legal Office to conduct an autopsy on the body of a patient who died in Chan’s hospital.

Chan sought assistance from police after Reyes allegedly offered to "overturn" his finding.

Police referred the case to NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco, who tapped Panganiban’s unit to coordinate with Chan and eventually set the entrapment, leading to Reyes’ arrest.

Panganiban said Castro and Rosario were part of the alleged irregularities, prompting the NBI to include them in the charges.

He showed to reporters a copy of the postmortem findings of the NBI, which cleared Chan of any liability in the death of the patient. Reyes had affixed his signature on the document even without the signature of Castro, the one who supposedly prepared the report to be submitted to Reyes.

The STF also submitted to the Ombudsman a number of photographs of a cellular phone with the text messages sent to Chan by the suspects.

"We have strong evidence," said Panganiban of the case filed against Reyes.

Speaking for the first time since his arrest last week, Reyes denied the charges. But he refused to comment further, saying "it would affect my integrity."