(Eagle News)–The State Prosecutors and Prosecution Attorneys Association Inc. (SPPAAI) expressed “alarm” over the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission’s request to place under preventive suspension the prosecutors who dismissed the charges against Kerwin Espinosa and others.
In a statement, the group said the act of requesting to also file administrative charges against Assistant State Prosecutor Michael John Humarang, officer in charge-Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Rassendel Rex Gingoyon, Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan, and former Assistant State Prosecutor and now Regional Trial Court Judge Aristotle Reyes was “reckless and malicious.”
They also condemned the recommendation to conduct a lifestyle check on Reyes.
“As prosecutors, we are bound to decide each case based on the evidence presented before us….Evidence submitted is the essential consideration that all prosecutors weigh in every case that we resolve,” they said.
They said as such, they could “neither take popular opinion nor public outcry as ground for filing a case or dismissing a complaint.”
“Thus, the classic image of Lady Justice with a blindfold, a balance, and a sword: the evidence tilts the scales as she remains unbiased in rendering a decision, regardless of public opinion,” they said.
“Fair play demands that the public observe the same principle before making any action and avoid dampening the reputation of others without cause,” they added.
They thanked Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre for his “unending support to the state prosecutors and Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Inc. and the National Prosecution Service, as a whole, in ensuring an efficient and equitable administration of justice.”
“With this, we give our full support to.. Humarang, Gingoyon, Catalan and Reyes. We espouse their resolve and stand by them as testament to upholding the rule of law and in truly prosecuting crimes without fear or favor,” they said.
Humarang, Gingoyon and Reyes comprised the first panel of prosecutors that dismissed the charges against Espinosa, Peter Lim, Marcelo Adorco, Peter Co, Max Miro, Lovely Impal, Ruel Malindangan, Jun Pepito, Jermy Amang and several others identified only by their aliases on the basis of “dearth of evidence.”
Catalan approved the resolution that the panel issued in December last year.
The Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group which acted as the complainant admitted it did not submit to the first panel Espinosa’s confession he was a drug distributor during a Senate hearing in 2016, saying Espinosa himself recanted the statement during the preliminary investigation.
Aguirre created a second panel to look into the cases of Espinosa and the others, and declared moot the decision of the first panel.
He ordered the conduct of an investigation against the first panel of prosecutors following the public outcry over the dismissal, but also expressed support for his men.
