‘Reyes brothers not yet off the hook’

MANILA, Philippines - Former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother Coron town Mayor Mario Reyes are not yet off the hook in the 2011 killing of broadcaster Gerry Ortega as the Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to review the murder charges against them, Secretary Leila de Lima said yesterday.

De Lima said the Reyeses are still considered fugitives despite rulings of the Court of Appeals (CA) effectively nullifying the murder case filed against them by the DOJ before the Puerto Princesa regional trial court (RTC).

“The arrest warrant issued by the RTC is subsisting and not yet revoked by the court. The CA did not categorically nullify the warrant, which showed that the RTC agreed on our findings of probable cause,” she told reporters.

De Lima said the DOJ is set to question before the Supreme Court the recent CA ruling nullifying the second panel of fiscals that recommended the indictment of the Reyes brothers. She said the Office of the Solicitor General has been tapped for this purpose.

Pending review of the CA ruling, De Lima said her office is readying a contingency plan – resolution of the pending petition for review filed with her office by the Ortega family questioning the findings of the first panel of fiscals that junked the charges against the Reyeses.

“We are carefully studying the CA decision to know if the DOJ can now resolve the petition for review in this case,” she said.

Since she has inhibited from the case being a former election lawyer of the ex-Palawan governor, De Lima said the review would be conducted by one of her undersecretaries.

The DOJ chief issued the statement after a closed-door meeting with officers of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines which supported the call of the Ortega family for the resolution of their pending petition in her office.