THE office of the Regional State Prosecutors’ (RSP) in Central Visayas has ordered the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutors’ Office to handle the preliminary investigation of the case against five highway patrol troopers implicated in the slaying of prominent Cebuano lawyer Noel Archival, his two aides and the wounding of another.
Regional state prosecutor Fernando Gubalane issued the order after the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office decided to inhibit from the case “to avoid any suspicion of bias”.
In this particular case, Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor Rodrigo Tagaan will act as Acting Cebu Provincial Prosecutor whose resolution no longer needs the approval of a higher official in the prosecutor’s office.
“I issued Office Order No. 14-27 dated June 13 after the inhibition of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office and in order not to delay the resolution of the said case,” Gubalane said.
Gubalane’s order, however, came with the denial by Prosecutor-General Claro Arellano of the policemen’s motion for the provincial prosecutors to inhibit from the case.
Defense attorney Inocencio De La Cerna yesterday said that they have filed a motion for reconsideration of Arellano’s denial. Dela Cerna’s motion, however, may become moot as Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba said their inhibition stays and Gubalane’s order to the Lapu-Lapu prosecutors will have to be followed.
Talking through their lawyers, the five suspects who are members of the PNP Highway Patrol Group in Central Visayas (HPG-7) said they do not expect a fair investigation here in Cebu, considering that the victim’s brother, Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival, “wields considerable power and influence” which would compromise the investigation by the prosecutors’ office.
Technically, the prosecutors offices in Cebu and Lapu-Lapu cities are not under the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors Office.
Facing multiple murder and frustrated murder charges are Senior Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, Senior Supt. Joselito Lerion, Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara, SPO4 Edwin Galan and PO1 Alex Bacani.
Archival, along with his companions Candido Miñoza, Alejandro Jaime, and Paolo Cortes were ambushed inside their vehicle while traversing the national road in Dalaguete on their way back to Cebu City from a hearing in Dumaguete City. Only Cortes, Archival’s on-call assistant, survived the attack.
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