Yearender: Department of Justice takes center stage in 2010

MANILA, Philippines – When Leila de Lima accepted President Aquino’s offer and assumed the top post of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in July, she vowed a return to what was right, just and true.

Four months after, she gained the highest satisfaction rating from the public among the 12 Cabinet secretaries based on independent surveys – embodying the Filipino people’s trust in the new administration.

De Lima, who used to chair the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), is undeniably the scene-stealer of 2010 in the DOJ.

Her first six months as head of the prosecution arm of the executive department was highlighted by the investigation into the hostage-taking incident on Aug. 23 in Rizal Park that left eight Hong Kong tourists and hostage taker Rolando Mendoza, a disgruntled dismissed policeman, dead.

De Lima chaired the incident investigation and review committee (IIRC), which found 12 officials liable for the botched police rescue during the hostage incident.

After three weeks of probe, including five successive days of clarificatory hearings, De Lima recommended the filing of charges against Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Undersecretary Rico Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa, former Manila Police District (MPD) chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Leocadio Santiago, special weapons and tactics unit head Chief Inspector Santiago Pascual, hostage negotiator Superintendent Orlando Yebra, Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzales III, and Erwin Tulfo and Michael Rogas, from Radyo Mo Nationwide.

The IIRC also found liabilities of the three major TV networks – ABS-CBN 2, GMA 7 and TV 5. De Lima said media’s liabilities are “not that heavy” and those of the Ombudsman officials are also “different from the others.”

But the Palace did not adopt the 83-page report of the panel. Upon review of the President’s legal team, the Palace removed the recommendation to hold Lim liable, and Puno, instead of being administratively held liable, was only admonished by Malacañang.

This issue made De Lima consider leaving the administration in October.

After a few days, she announced she had opted to stay, saying that the differences of opinion between her and the President on the level of charges that should be filed against those found liable do not warrant her resignation, since they were “far from policy differences.”

“Resignations from positions of trust and confidence are usually based on irreconcilable differences on questions of policy. There is no such difference between me and the President,” she clarified. “We cannot be so onion-skinned as to contemplate resignation every time our perspective is not adopted in its entirety by the President.”

Too hot to handle

De Lima also personally oversaw the prosecution of the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre – a case close to her heart since it was among the big ones she investigated when she was still in CHR.

The DOJ under her watch has taken measures to expedite the resolution of this celebrated case dubbed as the “biggest case of political and media killings in the country to date.”

On the eve of the first anniversary of the gruesome massacre, De Lima designated Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III as supervising official who would oversee prosecution of the case.

Baraan, who was picked for his experience and competence in litigation, was specifically tasked to coordinate moves of the DOJ panel and private lawyers of victims who also serve as prosecutors in the case being tried by Quezon City regional trial court Branch 221.

De Lima had also instructed the DOJ team of prosecutors “to be more focused and more aggressive in handling the case.”

The DOJ chief conceded to popular observation that the trial is going at a snail’s pace. A year after the incident, the case is still on trial for 16 of 197 accused, including hearings for consolidated bail for primary suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. and motion to discharge three state witnesses.

She believes the delays in the hearings could be attributed to the complex case, which involves 57 victims and 197 accused, and also to the dilatory tactics of defense lawyers and resources of the accused.

Last November, the DOJ also grieved after Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera III, member of the Maguindanao massacre panel and director of the department’s Witness Protection Program, died of cardiac arrest.

Finally, the year 2010 saw several instances when De Lima decided to reopen cases already investigated and even resolved by her predecessors from the past administration.

Glorietta bombing

Last October, she ordered a reinvestigation of the Oct. 19, 2007 explosion in Glorietta 2 Mall in Makati City that killed 11 people and wounded over 100 others.

Her order came after the reported claim of retired Army colonel Allan Sollano, former head of the Army Explosive and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, contesting results of the earlier probe conducted by the previous administration which showed that leakage of methane gas caused the blast.

The DOJ had summoned Sollano and Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr. to attend fact-finding hearings.

The panel has also invited several personalities to shed light on the case.

The investigating fiscals were given 45 days to submit their report and recommendations. The deadline, however, was not met after Sollano continuously failed to show up in the DOJ hearings after he claimed he has the wick of the explosive device purportedly used in the bombing.

Morong 43 revisited

Apart from the Glorietta explosion, De Lima also reinvestigated the case of the 43 health workers arrested in Morong, Rizal province last February after being suspected of being members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Last Dec. 10, she issued an order clearing all of them of the charges. The trial courts in Morong, Rizal eventually ordered their release after the DOJ dropped all six charges of illegal possession of explosives and violation of election gun ban filed against them.

De Lima said the Palace decided to move for the release of the health workers after “a realization that the procedures conducted by the military in their arrest were questionable.”

She said it was found that the search warrant used by the military for the arrest was defective, “based on the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, the evidence is admissible in court.”

The DOJ chief stressed that the case should also give the military a message “that next time they should follow the correct process.” Still, she clarified that the DOJ’s move would not necessarily mean that the Morong 43 were innocent.

She said her office is also checking on claims of the Armed Forces that six of the 43 should not be released immediately because they were purportedly charged in other cases.

De Lima added that it is now up to the officers involved in the operations to explain their lapses.

Asked if this move was prompted by calls of National Democratic Front (NDF) chair Luis Jalandoni for the release of Morong 43, De Lima replied: “We have to recognize the fact that this will help in the peace process as it shows good faith and seriousness of this government in addressing Human Rights cases.”

DOJ wants Vizconde case reinvestigated

Finally, she ordered another investigation into the 19-year-old Vizconde massacre after the Supreme Court earlier this month acquitted Hubert Webb and six others who were found by the trial court guilty of the crime.

She took as a challenge to the DOJ the SC ruling clearing Webb, Hospicio Fernandez, Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Peter Estrada, Miguel Rodriguez and Gerardo Biong.

She said the government was also heeding the call of Lauro Vizconde for authorities to look for the real perpetrators who killed his wife and two daughters on the night of June 29, 1991 if those convicted for the crime were really innocent.

“This is a sensational, high-profile case that should be accorded a proper closure,” De Lima had said.

She said she wants an intensified hunt for the two other accused – Artemio Ventura and Joey Filart – who had remained in hiding since Webb and others were convicted of rape with homicide by Parañaque regional trial court Branch 274 in January 2000.

She stressed that not even Webb and the other accused would be spared in the new investigation – despite doctrine of double jeopardy that prohibits filing of a second case against the same persons who were already acquitted by court.

If it would be established that Webb’s group were really behind the crime, it would give Vizconde and the public the closure they wanted. –Edu Punay (The Philippine Star)