THE Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) group on Wednesday said it would be wrong for President Duterte to pardon the 19 policemen involved in the killing of Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. of Albuera, Leyte, and a fellow inmate at the Baybay subprovincial jail in Leyte last year.
In a statement, the group even urged the Cabinet, the legislature and other stakeholders to tell Duterte that it is wrong to advise the 19 police officers to plead guilty so he can just grant them absolute pardon and promotion.
“Pardoning the Albuera 19 implicates President Duterte in state-sponsorship of the Espinosa murder and, potentially, of the thousands of unresolved extrajudicial killings. It is not yet too late for the President’s advisers, friends and followers to tell him this,” the statement read.
It reminded the President that its power to grant executive pardon was intended to provide a chance to correct judicial mistakes and to extend clemency to those deemed to have sufficiently atoned for their offenses.
“It is wrong to pervert this power to give law-enforcement agents impunity to kill by ensuring that no authentic judicial process takes place,” the group stressed.
“Abusing the power of presidential pardon to plan a crime, with the guaranteed promise of absolution upon its commission, corrupts law- enforcement agencies and paves the way for more corruption,” it added.
Giving absolute pardon to the accused, according to FSGO, can be construed as a show of disrespect to the effort of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), considering its findings that the Espinosa killing was a rubout.
It can be recalled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) have indicted the police team, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos, for the killing of Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap.
The DOJ said Marcos and the other police officers charged conspired with each other to kill Espinosa and Yap inside their detention cells.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Baybay, Leyte, has ordered the arrest of the policemen.
The arrest warrants were issued following the DOJ finding of probable cause to indict members of the of National Police-Crime Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas, headed by Marcos, for murder and other criminal offenses.
In the 24-page resolution issued by the panel of prosecutors tasked to investigate the incident, the DOJ recommended the filing of two counts of murder charges against Marcos, Senior Insp. Deogracia Pedong Diaz, Senior Police Officer 2 Benjamin Layague Dacallos, Police Officer 3 Norman Tiu Abellanosa, PO1 Jerlan Sadia Cabiyaan, Chief Insp. Calixto Cabardo Canillas, Insp. Lucresito Adana Candelosas, SPO2 Antonio Romangca Docil, SPO1 Mark Christian Castillo Cadilo, PO2 John Ruel Baldevia Doculan and PO2 Jaime Pacuan Bacsal.
Four other police officers were charged for the killing of Espinosa—Supt. Santi Noel Matira, Chief Insp. Leo Daio Laraga, SPO4 Melvin Caboyit and PO3 Johnny Abuda Ibanez and four others for murder of Yap—Senior Insp. Fritz Bioco Blanco, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, PO2 Lloyd Ortiguesa and PO1 Bernard Orpilla.
Abellanosa, Laraga and witness Paul Olendan were also indicted for two counts of Article 129 of Revised Penal Code for allegedly maliciously obtaining search warrants.
The DOJ filed the case after the panel found that the killings of Espinosa and Yap inside the Baybay jail were attended by treachery, and the respondents used stealth to carry out the raid.
“The killings are qualified by evident premeditation since the attack was well-planned. The records will show that respondents craftily executed the killings under the pretense of implement a search warrant,” the resolution stated.