Bar blast suspect wants Manila fiscals, not DOJ, to hold probe

MANILA, Philippines - The principal suspect in the grenade attack outside the De La Salle University in Manila on the last day of the Bar examinations on Sept. 26 has asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to move his preliminary investigation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Manila prosecutor’s office.

Anthony Nepomuceno, who is facing charges of multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder, said he wants De Lima’s office out of the case. However, prosecutor Gerard Gaerlan, who is handling Nepomuceno’s case, has already set the preliminary investigation on Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

Nepomuceno said De Lima had already condemned him as guilty before the media. “Her public statements on TV, newspapers and similar means had already predetermined the outcome of the preliminary investigation that her office is now conducting,” he said.

Speaking through lawyers Jeffrey John Zarate and Hilda Sacay-Clave, Nepomuceno said De Lima’s constant media updates about the National Bureau of Investigation probe has already conditioned the public that he is guilty.

“De Lima has already lost her objectivity and partiality on the case,” he said. “She has already transgressed constitutionally guaranteed right to due process and presumption of innocence of (Nepomuceno).”

Nepomuceno, a member of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, said De Lima has assumed the role of a partial investigator, prosecutor, judge and even executioner.

“While she has a legal mandate as to the investigation, prosecution and the administration of the probation and correctional system, she certainly is not a judge who renders judgment as to the guilt or innocence of a respondent especially in the early stages of the preliminary investigation,” the lawyers said.