Retired fiscal fined for violating litigation procedures

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A retired prosecutor of this city has been ordered to return an amount equivalent to six months of his salary as a penalty for violating litigation procedures. 

Wilfred Buyco was fined for having tagged without due process former Cotabato City vice mayor Muslimin Sema as a suspect in the kidnapping of businessman Eulogio Lim Yu in 2011.

In a ruling dated July 21, the Ombudsman said Buyco named Sema as among the suspects without first conducting a preliminary investigation.

In a radio interview last Friday, Sema said someone could have influenced Buyco to implicate him in Yu’s kidnapping.

The ombudsman said Buyco did not furnish Sema a copy of his motion for the court to include the former vice mayor as one of the suspects. 

The court denied Buyco’s motion to include Sema as a respondent in the kidnapping case.

“While the respondent, as a prosecutor, has the discretion to include in the information a person against whom he believes is probably guilty of the crime charged, such discretion must be based on evidence,” the ombudsman said.

Buyco retired last March 24.