Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 20) — Senators slammed Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre over his department’s resolution to downgrade the charges against the suspects in the slay of former Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa.
Former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) region 8 Captain Supt. Marvin Marcos, along with 18 other co-accused, were granted release on Friday upon paying bail of P40,000 bail each.
This follows the resolution dated June 2 signed by Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo, downgrading the suspects’ murder charges stating there was no evidence of premeditation as the witnesses failed to substantiate through their testimonies that there was a plan to kill the victims.
“This is an obvious attempt at a cover up through an unabashed flip-flop. It is an act of impunity to cover up another act of impunity,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hontiveros called Aguirre a “flip-flop” for approving the downgrade of charges, which was contrary to his previous stand.
“Aguirre’s department issued a resolution on March 2017 supporting the findings of both the Senate and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that the Espinosa killing was a clear case of premeditated murder,” the statement added.
The Senate committee on public order and the NBI had previously recommended the filing of murder charges against the policemen.
Other minority senators expressed their dismay on the release of Marcos and his co-accused.
Minority Floor Leader Sen. Franklin Drilon said he was very disappointed on the proceedings, while Sen. Francis Pangilinan appeals the Justice Department to reconsider its ruling.
“Dapat i-apela ang findings ng DOJ dahil maliwanag na murder ang nangyari. Ito ang findings ng NBI at pati na rin ng senado,” Pangilinan said.
[Translation: The DOJ findings should be appealed because it’s clear what happened was murder. This was the finding of the NBI and the Senate.]
Sen. Richard Gordon similarly expressed his disappointment, saying the DOJ abused its power in their decision.
“Ang linaw linaw naman….g*****o ba nila ang tao? (It’s very clear, are they making a fool out of the people?)…There was abuse of power and abuse of discretion on the part of the DOJ,” Gordon said.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Sr. Supt. Dionardo Carlos said the accused cops’ fate within the police force remains uncertain, even if they are out on bail.
“Ang question ngayon, ano ang status nila sa PNP…So from there, kung sila po ay, let’s say, still under the PNP, ang huli po nilang estado sa amin ay sila ay under restrictive custody,” Carlos said.
[Translation: The question now is what their status in the PNP is…So from there, if they’re, let’s say still under the PNP, their final status with us is under restrictive custody.]
CNN Philippines’ Ina Andolong and Ver Marcelo contributed to this report.
