By Joel R. San Juan & Rene Acosta
TWO state prosecutors on Thursday said their decision to dismiss the drug charges against self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa, Peter Lim, convicted drug lord Peter Co and several other respondents was based purely on the evidence submitted by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).
In an interview, former Assistant State Prosecutor and now Lucena City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Aristotle Reyes said on Thursday that he welcomed the order of Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct investigation to determine possible irregularities committed by the investigating panel in resolving the controversial drug case.
Reyes and Assistant State Prosecutors Michael John Humarang were the prosecutors who the conducted preliminary investigation on the case and found no probable cause to indict the accused for possible violation of Section 26 (b) of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. Section 26 (b) is an attempt or conspiracy for the sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical. The complaint was filed on July 5, 2017.
Aside from Reyes and Humarang, also covered by the investigation are Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rassendell Rex Gingoyon, who recommended the approval of the resolution, and Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan approved the dismissal of the case.
‘Great boost’
AT Camp Crame, the PNP said the conviction of eight drug traffickers by the courts is a great boost to the national government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
The decisions, which PNP Drug Enforcement Group director Chief Supt. Albert Ignatius Ferro hailed as a “triumph of justice,” were disclosed by the PNP on the heels of a “temporary setback” over the dismissal of illegal-drugs complaint against Espinosa, Lim and Co, among others.
Ferro said Judge Marilou Runes-Taman of RTC, Branch 98, in Quezon City, meted life imprisonment to convicted drug traffickers Eduardo Dario, Rea Mae Libiran, John Rey Bungcasan and Gemmarose Codera.
The four were arrested by agents of the defunct PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Quezon City in 2016 with 45 kilos of shabu.
The decision was the first drug conviction under the Duterte administration in a space of 14 months of trial with the cooperation of the Department of Justice.
In another case, Judge Lun Ebora-Cacha of the RTC, Branch 82, in Quezon City, imposed a similar sentence to Chinese Wilfredo Uy, Yang Shu and Lu Pang and Taiwanese Chen Ta Yun who were arrested in 2007 for manufacturing shabu at a clandestine laboratory in Tandang Sora, Quezon City.
“The speedy trial being implemented serves as a deterrent to the tactics by those accused of prolonging the trial, in the hope of police officers will lose interest, court fund extinguishes or otherwise get reassigned or, worse, bribed, so there will be a failure to prosecute,” Ferro said.
He added the twin convictions set an encouraging precedent for operating units engaged in police antidrug operations.
Weak case
Reyes also said that the affidavits of the accused-turned witness Marcelo Adorco, which were submitted by the PNP-CIDG to support itscase, was weak in establishing probable cause.
Reyes maintained that Adorco, the lone witness of the PNP-CIDG in the case, could not be considered a credible witness due to inconsistencies in his three affidavits and being also a coconspirator in the drug deal.
He added Adorco has no personal knowledge pertaining to his allegations on the drug deal involving the respondents.