The five policemen of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) who were implicated in the ambush-slay of lawyer Noel Archival and his companions have requested the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office to inhibit from handling the case.
They want Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to take over the case.
They said Archival’s brother, Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, “wields considerable power and influence” which would compromise the investigation by the prosecutors’ office.
The formal request was made by Senior Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, Senior Supt. Joselito Lerion, Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara, SPO4 Edwin Galan, and PO1 Alex Bacani.
“There is no doubt that they (respondents) are already doomed and there is no way that they could expect a fair, just, and descent treatment from any of the investigation body in Cebu City,” said the five policemen in a letter submitted to the Department of Justice in Manila last Monday.
One example of the pressure, they said, was the recent relief order which transferred them from the HPG 7 to Camp Crame in Manila.
“These developments gave respondents chilling effect as their witnesses, documents, and evidence were now left unprotected in Cebu,” the five policemen said.
So that no “shadow of doubt and suspicions” will be cast upon the integrity of the Provincial Prosecutors’ Office, they said it is proper for the office to let go of the case and transmit all the records to the the DOJ main office.
Asked to comment on the issue, Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba said they will continue conducting preliminary investigation on the case unless they will receive an order to stop the proceedings against the five HPG policemen.
“We’re presently waiting for them (respondents) to submit their respective counter-affidavits. For the moment, we have not received any order to stop the preliminary investigation.” she told CDN.
Petralba earlier appointed five prosecutors to handle the case against the five policemen who are facing charges of multiple and frustrated murder in relation to the fatal shooting of Archival and his companions.
The five HPG policemen are also facing a separate investigation before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas for using impounded vehicles in attacking the victims.
Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol said he will forward the case filed against the respondents before the Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO) which has jurisdiction over the police officers.
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, south Cebu in the afternoon of Feb. 18, 2014 from a hearing in Dumaguete City.
Only Cortes, Archival ’s on-call assistant, survived the attack.