Ilocos judge who granted bail to 5 drug suspects under fire

A judge in Batac, Ilocos Norte is under fire from prosecutors of the Department of Justice for freeing on bail last November three policemen and two civilians facing drug trafficking charges for a P250-million shabu haul.

Chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuño and state prosecutors Albert Fonacier and Josefino Subia have asked the Supreme Court to dismiss Judge Alejandrino Cabebe, strip him of his retirement benefits – he’s due to retire in March – and "disbar" him too.

Cabebe, the prosecutors said, granted bail to the five accused "without any written application or petition or motion for bail" and despite the fact that the case was non-bailable.

What surprised them most, they said, was that "the issue was never discussed even verbally."

What was worse, they added, was that Cabebe suddenly abstained himself from handling the case last Dec. 26 without any reason at all.

They held Cabebe administratively liable for "grave misconduct, gross ignorance of the law, bias and partiality" for unilaterally releasing Chief Inspector Rey Daquep Arcangel, SPO4 Victorio Gamet Malabed, SPO3 William Roxas Villanueva and civilians Jocelyn Malabed Manuel and Pelagio Valencia Manuel last November.

The five were indicted for possession of 124 kilos of shabu in April 2000.

Follow-up operations by the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) yielded the arrest of Chinese nationals Jimmy Lim and Sonny Ng in a Chinese restaurant in Quezon City. A kilo of shabu was seized from them.

The two Chinese nationals were indicted in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

In a 10-page administrative complaint, the DOJ prosecutors said they were surprised when local prosecutor Bernardo Agdigos informed them that Cabebe granted bail to the five drug suspects even if the defense had not filed any motion for such.

They added that Agdigos, who represented them in the hearing, was not even "given the opportunity" to oppose the bail grant "in open court."

"Neither was the issue of bail even discussed or touched upon in the previous scheduled hearings," they said.

They added: "It is of common knowledge, experience and observation that judges do not just inhibit themselves from presiding over a case if they know that what they did was correct and in accord with the law."

In voluntarily inhibiting himself, Cabebe, they said, "knew fully well and admitted that what he did in this particular case was patently and maliciously irregular, warranting administrative sanction against him."