Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Wednesday said he is willing to appear before a Senate inquiry on the Department of Justice’s decision that downgraded to homicide the murder charges against the policemen involved in the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa and another inmate inside the sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte last year.
“If invited to appear before the Senate, I will appear out of respect for a co-equal branch of government and of a distinguished and a hallowed institution,” Aguirre said.
At the same time, however, Aguirre insisted that he has nothing to do with the resolution lowering the charges to homicide, a bailable offense, against the policemen led by former PNP-CIDG Eastern Visayas chief, Supt. Marvin Marcos.
Aguirre said he was not the one who resolved the matter. “I did not have any hand in the drafting of the resolution being referred to by some senators. I was not the one who resolved the matter. I was not the one who wrote it. I was not the one who signed it.
In a resolution last March, the DoJ ruled that Marcos and the other respondents conspired with each other to kill Espinosa and Raul Yap inside their detention cells.
Marcos and 10 of his men- S/Insp Deogracia Pedong Diaz III, C/Insp. Calixto Canillas Jr., Insp.Lucresito Candelosas, SPO2s Benjamin Dacallos and Antonio Docil, SPO1 1 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO3 Norman Abellanosa, PO2s John Ruel Doculan and Jaime Bacsal, and PO1 Jerlan Cabiyaan—were charged with two counts of murder.
Four other police officers were charged for the killing of Espinosa—Supt. Santi Noel Matira, C/Insp.Leo Daio Laraga, SPO4 4 Melvin Caboyit and PO3 Johnny Abuda Ibañez—while four others for the murder of Yap—S/Insp. Fritz Bioco Blanco, SPO4 4 Juanito Duarte, PO2 Lloyd Ortiguesa and PO1Bernard Orpilla.
Abellanosa, Laraga and witness Paul Olendan were also indicted for two counts of Article 129 of Revised Penal Code for maliciously obtaining search warrants.
The murder charges against Insp. Eric Constantino and SPO2 Alphinor Serrano, however, were dismissed for lack of probable cause.
The DoJ then discovered that the killings of Espinosa and Yap were also attended by treachery and the respondents used stealth to carry out the raid and that they clearly outnumbered and out-armed the victims.
After the issuance of the March 2 resolution, Aguirre said the indictment only goes to show that the government will not tolerate any misdeeds of its officers.
During a Senate inquiry on the issue, Aguirre expressed the opinion that the killing might have been premeditated, as he noted it was unusual to serve a search warrant on the wee hours of the morning considering that Espinosa was already detained inside a government jail facility.
The National Bureau of Investigation also disputed the police’s claim that Espinosa and Yap were killed in a shootout inside their detention cells saying that what happened was a rubout.
However, the DoJ in a resolution dated May 29 granted the petition for review filed by the respondents and downgraded the murder charges saying there was nothing on record to prove that there was evident premeditation—one of the elements of murder in the crime.
Aguirre also said that even if he does attend the hearing, only the courts, and not the Senate, has the authority to overturn any resolution of the DoJ.
This means that the Senate can reverse the DoJ resolution downgrading the charges filed against the policemen.
“They cannot investigate the resolution. They could investigate the circumstances in the issuance of the resolution, but I believe the Senate has no power to overturn any resolution coming from the Department of Justice,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel said that the best way for the Senate to be involved is to reopen the hearing and request for copies of the counter-affidavits or whatever other papers or documents that the respondents filed.
Pimentel made the statement in reaction to the downgrading of the criminal charges.
Pimentel said a reopening of the Senate probe will put to task the DOJ which handled the preliminary investigation to explain why it downgraded the charge of murder to homicide.
He added that it was possible that the testimonies given during the Senate investigation were different from that of the counter affidavits submitted in yjr court.
“Because in fairness to everybody, we had hearings here in the Senate but of course a preliminary investigation follows a different procedure, including the submission of counter affidavits. So I think the best way is to reopen the hearing and then require the submission of these counter affidavits so that the senators will have the transcript before them,” said Pimentel, a lawyer.
“So if we believe that there’s something fishy that happened here, some corrupt practice happened here, then malalagot sila sa (they will answer to the) blue ribbon committee…” he added.
But Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon said there could be a possible conspiracy in the downgrading and that and perjury can be filed against Aguirre.
In a television interview, Drilon recalled Aguirre himself told the Senate public order committee that the killing of Espinosa inside a sub-provincial jail in Baybay City last November 5 was a case of “premeditated killing.”
“A premeditated killing is murder. From the mouth of Sec. Aguirre, he said there was premeditated killing or murder. So why did he downgrade?” said Drilon, who once served as justice secretary.
He noted that Aguirre was “ill motivated” on the basis of his previous statements, and the recent developments on the case.
“It is very clear that whatever motivated Sec. Aguirre, the motivation was wrong. He was ill motivated by this. In fact, on the basis of what we’ve seen, there could even be malice. He admitted it was premeditated and suddenly, five months or six months after, he turned around and directed the prosecutor to downgrade,” Drilon said.
.Asked what the Senate can do or if he can file a perjury case against Aguirre, Drilon replied: “theoretically, we can.”
“This is a cabinet secretary and the tenure in the cabinet is upon the wish and confidence of the President. We can put political pressure. Also we can join as intervener the appeal that will be done. There is also a possibility that the Senate can join the family of Espinosa as petitioners in appeal before the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.”
Drilon.Drilon also asked why the judge of the Baybay City Regional Trial Court Branch 14 immediately granted the downgrading of charges from murder to homicide against the cops.
He said the judge should have allowed the case to proceed on the basis of the murder information filed.
“If the evidence that it is merely homicide, then the accused in this particular case can be convicted of homicide. The judge gravely abused his discretion here. I don’t want to say there was collusion, but these circumstances would raise doubts in my mind. As a former Justice secretary, indeed something is fishy here. There is a conspiracy to go around the rule of law,” Drilon said.
He said he would ask the Supreme Court to look into the possible grave abuse of discretion on the part of the judge for being “incompetent” or “in collusion.”
Drilon said that the downgrading of raps, which had allowed Marcos and his co-accused to walk out of detention on bail, “encourages impunity.
”Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the Senate can file a case against Aguirre II or cite him in contempt if there was evidence to prove that he had committed wrongdoings that resulted in the downgrading of the cases against the suspecfs.
He said there are many remedies the Senate can do — file an actual case against Aguirre if there is enough evidence or cite him in contempt for the contradicting statements he issued here and then did after leaving.
Escudero, meanwhile, said that even if Aguirre had already been confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, could not simply escape responsibility by saying that he was not the one who signed the resolution downgrading the charges.
“At the end of the day, he approved and saw all these, he still has the command responsibility insofar as all of these cases are concerned especially a very popular case such as this one. Whether his approval was sought or not or whether someone complained to him or not, he should still have made sure that his subordinates were acting in good faith,” Escudero said.
“And if he really wants to overturn it, he could have by reversing the recommendation of his prosecutor,” he added.
Senator Bam Aquino, meanwhile, wants the DOJ to explain its contradictory issuances regarding the killing of Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap.
He said the downgrading was made with blatant disregard of the findings of the NBI and the Senate.
Aquino was referring to the DOJ’s June 2 resolution which indicated that there was no record of “evident premeditation” and “necessary force” was used to implement the search warrant against Espinosa. well planned.”
“The recent turnaround in the DOJ ruling is deeply concerning as there is no clear and compelling reason to reverse its initial resolution,” Aquino said. Adding that the new DOJ resolution contradicts its earlier decision as well as the findings of both the NBI and the Senate committees which investigated the incident.
“This sends the message that the supposed law enforcers front lining the current administration’s war on drugs are exempted from the rule of law,” the senator said.
Meanwhile, detained Senator Leila de Lima joined the senators in condemning the DOJ for its highly questionable action in downgrading the double murder charges against the policemen.
“How can the DOJ, thru USEC Reynante Orceo, not see and appreciate the presence of the qualifying circumstance of evident premeditation, and even abuse of superior strength, in the execution of such criminal act which bears the hallmarks of summary execution?” asked De Lima. “What does it make of the Senators and the NBI probers (who were convinced of the culpability of Marcos, et al. for murder), if people simply accept DOJ’s conclusion that “nothing in the records” could prove evident premeditation?” she said.
De Lima said something tells her “that the DOJ’s initial adoption of NBI’s recommendation was just for show, a charade, so as to please or satisfy the Senate and the public.”
She noted that the actual game plan though was to downgrade the charges, as done now, and ultimately weaken the case vs. those rogue police officers and men.