DOJ reads riot act to prosecutors

The Department of Justice has issued a memorandum laying down the “standard operating procedure for prosecutors nationwide with respect to their disposition” of cases involving political and media killings.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday issued Memorandum Circular 4 directing heads of provincial and city prosecution offices to assign a prosecutor to handle political killings and violence in their respective jurisdictions.

The order also called for close coordination between prosecutors and local authorities in resolving cases that involve political and media killings.

The memorandum was released by the Justice department several days after an international human rights watchdog called on President Benigno Aquino 3rd to look into allegedly state-sponsored extra-judicial killings.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, out of hundreds of extra-judicial killings and disappearances in the past decade, only six cases have been successfully prosecuted and only 11 people were convicted.

Incidents deadly to the media and other sectors under the month-old Aquino administration included the murders of journalist Jose Daguio and political leader Fernando Baldomero and the shooting of Alliance of Concerned Teachers member Dexter Legaspi.

Daguio was killed on July 3 in Tabuk City, Kalinga; Baldomero in Kalibo, Aklan on July 6; while Le-gaspi was shot but survived in Palanas, Masbate, also on July 6.

De Lima also has directed the provincial prosecutors of Kalinga, Masbate, Aklan, Camarines Sur, Nueva Ecija and Bataan to work closely with police and local authorities for case investigation and assistance. –Rommel C. Lontayao, Reporter, Manila Times