2 controversial cases up for review — DOJ

Two controversial cases that were dismissed by prosecutors are now up for review by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez said yesterday the review panel of the department would determine whether there was abuse of discretion on the part of the prosecutors in dismissing the cases involving the Jaworski-Yap and Martel shooting incidents, both involving prominent families.

Gutierrez refused to elaborate, but said all cases would be automatically reviewed by the secretary’s office to ensure that justice is served.

"We just want to assure that all of these would be looked into under automatic review that is provided by law," she said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes earlier ordered a reinvestigation of the Jaworski-Yap case that took place in Mandaluyong City last June.

A government prosecutor had dismissed criminal charges against Ryan and Mark Jaworski, sons of former Sen. Robert Jaworski, and Elton Yap and his older brother because of alleged inadequacies in the police investigation.

Gutierrez earlier cited sloppy police work for the dismissal of alarm and scandal, illegal discharge of firearms and malicious mischief charges.

She said police should present more convincing proof if the charges are to be appealed before her office.

The respondents were accused of turning the area behind a restaurant in East Greenhills into a virtual war zone on the evening of June 21.

Prosecutor Elenita Dmaguila noted in her resolution that the police failed to follow up leads given by witnesses.

"The conclusion of the PNP investigators regrettably does not appear to conform to the evidence on hand, particularly those coming from their informants, who were at the site when the shooting incident happened," the resolution said.

Police could not establish who had actually fired guns, and none of the witnesses could identify the actual shooters. The shootout lasted 10 minutes. At least 82 spend shells were found at the scene.

Meanwhile, a DOJ prosecutor dismissed last week for insufficiency of evidence the frustrated parricide charges filed against businessman Robert Puyat Martel by his wife, Melissa, for allegedly shooting her on Aug. 26 of last year.

In a nine-page resolution, Senior State Prosecutor Roberto Lao said the complaint failed to show proof that her husband indeed tried to kill her during a heated altercation inside their house in Makati City.

Lao also noted that security guards Joel Castillo and Fidel Nimes, whom the complainant said were present during the shooting did not corroborate her narration of events and even supported the claims of her husband.

The guards also said they were not eyewitnesses as they came only after the incident.

Lao said Melissa did not offer evidence to rebut the testimonies of the guards.

Martel said the shooting of his wife was purely accidental as they struggled for possession of the gun, which went off and hit the complainant in the abdomen.

In a related development, newly-appointed police chief Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay ordered the Mandaluyong City police yesterday to file a motion for the re-investigation of the Jaworski-Yap case.

"I am now ordering the Mandaluyong police to move for a motion or ask for a re-investigation of the case," said Aglipay.

He also directed all regional, provincial and city police chiefs to ensure that all criminal cases filed within their jurisdiction eventually prosper.

In the case of Jaworski-Yap shooting, the PNP should take extra effort in looking for witnesses, the PNP chief said.

"We should not stop there. We should move for a re-investigation," he said.

Aglipay expressed confidence that Mandaluyong City police chief Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, being a lawyer, can handle a re-investigation.

For his part, Velasquez pledged to fully cooperate in the re-opening of the case. He said copies of the case records have been forwarded to the National Police Commission (Napolcom).

"Whatever Napolcom feels we have to do, we will comply. We have nothing to hide," he said.

Velasquez blamed the indifference of shootout witnesses for the dismissal of the case.

"I have been reiterating this from the start. Due to the absence of witnesses and other evidence that could directly link the respondents, the case could be weak," he said.

Velasquez said the camps of those involved and not the police should be blamed for the dismissal of the case.

"How can we give them justice when they themselves don’t want to cooperate with us in giving them justice," he said. – With Christina Mendez, Non Alquitran