2 Cebu lawyers’ groups back IBP move vs judge, fiscals

CEBU — Other lawyer groups in Cebu will be supporting the move of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Cebu City chapter in asking the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to probe what they claimed to be the irregular filing of a case and conviction of a self-confessed accomplice in the killing of the wife of cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr.

Democrito Barcenas, president of IBP Cebu chapter, said the Cebu Lady Lawyers Association (CELLA) and the Young Lawyers Association of Cebu (YLAC) have echoed the same sentiments.

Last Wednesday, the IBP passed two resolutions asking the Supreme Court to investigate Judge Ildefonso Suerte of Regional Trial Court Branch 60 in Barili and the DOJ to conduct a full-blown inquiry on assistant provincial prosecutor Vicente Mañalac and other prosecutors involved in the filing of the case against Cedrick Devinadera.

The IBP said the plea-bargaining agreement between Devinadera and his accuser, Jaime Bacolod, said to be a first cousin of Ecleo’s wife, Alona Bacolod, that led to Devinadera’s immediate conviction as an accessory to homicide was anomalous.

The IBP said the "real offended parties" in Alona’s death are her surviving brothers and not Jaime.

It questioned why Suerte convicted Devinadera despite a halt in the parricide case against Ecleo tagged as a primary suspect in his wife’s killing two years ago.

Manuel Monzon, IBP provincial chapter president, said they will discuss the issue in their board meeting today.

While he does not want to pre-empt the views of the board members, Monzon said he personally adopts the stand of the IBP-Cebu City chapter.

Adelfa Navarro, CELLA outgoing president, said their board has yet to meet to decide whether they will similarly pass resolutions on the matter.

Barcenas said they have forwarded copies of their two resolutions to the Supreme Court. He said he is optimistic that the tribunal will immediately act on their plea.

Suerte convicted Devinadera on May 7 as an accessory to Alona’s killing. While he was arraigned for murder on April 23, he was convicted of a lesser offense as an accessory to homicide after he entered into a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution when he was re-arraigned on May 7.

Devinadera was meted four to eight years in jail.

The IBP, however, said it seems that the DOJ "demonstrated manifest inconsistency" when the city prosecutor’s office filed the parricide case against Ecleo two years ago and subsequently the murder case against Devinadera last March.

Practically nobody knew about the filing of the case against Devinadera until Suerte convicted him.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) questioned how the provincial prosecutor’s office conducted the preliminary investigation into the murder case which Jaime Bacolod filed against Devinadera when the latter was not even made to answer the charge against him. — Freeman News Service