The Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office will create a five-member panel to handle the murder case filed against five police officials of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) who were charged with the Feb. 18 ambush of lawyer Noel Archival and his three companions.
Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba said the handling prosecutors will be known on Monday after the raffling of the case.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 filed three additional charges against the five HPG police officials.
Charged were Senior Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, HPG 7 director; Senior Supt. Joselito Lerion; Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara, SPO4 Edwin Galan, and PO1 Alex Bacani.
The officials were charged with violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and gross misconduct for allegedly using impounded vehicles kept at the HPG 7 compound in Sudlon, barangay Lahug in Cebu City.
Inhibition
The NBI said they have evidence showing that the respondents used an impounded red Toyota Vios sedan and a gray Mitsubishi Strada in attacking Archival and his three companions.
Their lawyer Inocencio Dela Cerna said he petitioned for the inhibition of the Cebu prosecutors from the case because it is a well-publicized case and his clients were already judged guilty by the public.
He said he wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila to handle the preliminary investigation.
Petralba said they have to evaluate dela Serna’s petition. She said prosecutors usually inhibit from handling a case whose complainant or respondent are relatives or close to them.
“We have to consider the legal and ethical reasons. If it will affect the outcome of the case, then prosecutors have to let go of that case. Yes, we too have human emotions. But we have a job to be done and we will do our job,” Petralba said.
Complaint
She said the respondents have 10 days from receipt of the subpoena to submit their counter-affidavits and refute the allegations.
Petralba said prosecutors have 60 days to resolve a complaint which undergoes preliminary investigation.
“While the general says 60 days, it can go beyond in some instances when we are faced with a complicated case,” she said.
Petralba said the Archival family’s request to have the case tried in Cebu instead of Argao town will have to be decided by the Supreme Court.
Petralba said the findings of the five-person panel of prosecutors will be reviewed by another prosecutor before it will be forwarded to her for approval.
Additional evidence
“We have to admit that what was filed is a highly-controversial case. We want to be very sure in what step we take. As they say, more heads are better than one,” she told reporters.
NBI agent Rennan Augustus Oliva, one of two NBI team leaders handling the case, said they are asking the Ombudsman to issue a preventive suspension order against the respondents to prevent them from harassing witnesses.
NBI agent Jose Ermie Monsanto, who along with Oliva led the investigation said they will submit additional evidence next Monday, including the testimonies of a witness who recently went to the NBI to shed light on the incident.
“There are still ‘John Does’ which we need to identify. As much as possible, we want all the respondents to be identified,” Monsanto said.
Last Tuesday, the NBI also filed charges of multiple murder and frustrated murder against the same respondents before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.
Clearance
Dela Cerna’s associate lawyer Hasan Bargamento, who spoke in behalf of the respondents yesterday, said they welcome the filing of the complaint against their clients.
Archival, along with his companions Candido Miñoza, Alejandro Jaime, and Paolo Cortes were ambushed inside their vehicle while traversing the national road in Dalaguete town, southern Cebu in the afternoon of Feb. 18, 2014.
Only Cortes, Archival’s on-call assistant, survived the attack.
Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara, HPG deputy chief, said he had no control of their impounding area in Sudlon, barangay Lahug.
Mara said it is the Special Operation Team (SOT) that has authority over the impounding area.
The team is headed by Senior Insp. Joselito Lerion, also an intelligence chief of HPG.
Mara said the NBI only implicated him in the charged just because he is a deputy chief as well as a clearance and administrative officer.
He said only the court can order them to pull out the impounded vehicles from the impounding area. With Correspondent / Kent A. Ugalde, Xavier University Development Communication Intern