THE government’s top lawyer on Tuesday said the decision by the Court of Appeals to release former Palawan governor Joel Reyes, accused of murder, “stinks” and vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court.
“The CA Decision stinks. As to where the stench came from, we will investigate it,” Solicitor General Jose Calida said in a statement.
“We are ready and raring to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court. There will be no miscarriage of justice under my watch,” he added.
The Court of Appeals had last week ordered the Palawan Regional Trial Court to dismiss the case against Reyes and release him due to lack of evidence linking him to the 2011 murder of radio broadcaster and environmentalist Gerry Ortega.
Calida said the appeals court was “clearly in the wrong” in the Ortega case and said there is sufficient ground to jail the former governor.
“In this case, from the perspective of a reasonably discreet and prudent man, there is sufficient ground to order the arrest of Joel Reyes,” he said.
On his radio program, Ortega had accused Reyes of large-scale corruption and the violation of environmental laws.
A gunman came up from behind Ortega and shot him in the back of the head on Jan. 24, 2011, while shopping at an ukay ukay (used clothing) store in San Pedro, Palawan, near the veterinary clinic he shared with his wife.
His family has condemned the CA decision.
The Palace on Tuesday also criticized the Court of Appeals for defying the Supreme Court when it ordered Reyes’ release.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, a former counsel for Ortega’s family, said the Palawan RTC had the sole authority to determine the existence of probable cause and not the Court of Appeals.
“The Court of Appeals brazenly defied the decision of the Supreme Court… that the determination of the existence of probable cause lies with the RTC,” Roque said in Filipino.
“The point here is why would you meddle with the RTC’s decision? The RTC received all the evidence. The Court of Appeals would really find no evidence,” he said.
He branded the 3-2 decision—with Associate Justices Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob and Maria Filomena Singh dissenting—“irregular.”
“The RTC heavily relied on the prosecution witnesses’ sworn statements. Such reliance, however, was misplaced,” said the decision penned by Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro, with concurrences from Associate Justices Danton Bueser and Victoria Isabel Paredes.
Calling the appellate court’s decision “alarming” and a “travesty of justice,” the Palace on Monday vowed to exhaust all legal remedies to overturn the CA ruling on Reyes.
The former Palawan governor still faces another 36 counts of graft for P1.5 billion worth of grossly incomplete projects funded by the Malampaya fund.
In an interview with ABS-CBN in Puerto Princesa City, the just released Reyes told reporters that Roque, who had previously served as lawyer of the Ortega family in the case, may no longer continue doing so due to a conflict of interest.
“You [Roque] cannot be lawyering for somebody else because that’s a conflict of interes. The office that you represent can easily sway the judiciary,” Reyes said of Roque.