Aguirre: I did not sign reso on downgrading of raps vs. Marcos

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Wednesday washed his hands of the downgrading of the criminal charges against policemen involved in the death of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Esinosa.

"I did not have any hand in the drafting of the resolution being referred to by some senators," Aguirre said in a statement.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson has urged the Senate to denounce the decision of the Department of Justice to downgrade the charges against Superintendent Marvin Marcos and other policemen involved in Espinosa's killing.

Marcos and the other policemen were initially charged with murder, but the DOJ downgraded the charge to homicide, which the Baybay City court accepted, allowing the policemen to post bail.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Aguirre should be summoned by the Senate and made to  explain the DOJ's resolution.

Asked by GMA News Online if he would attend the inquiry, Aguirre said: "Anytime."

In his statement, Aguirre also denied that he signed the resolution.

"I was not the one who resolved the matter. I was not the one who wrote it. I was not the one who signed it," the Justice chief said.

It was Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo who resolved the petition for review filed by the policemen seeking to overturn the March resolution of the five-man panel of prosecutors that led to their indictment for murder.

The Senate Committee on Public Order chaired by Lacson had said that the death of Espinosa, along with another inmate, Raul Yap, was a case of “premeditated murder.”

Espinosa and Yap died after allegedly putting up a fight against policemen serving search warrants inside the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Baybay City on November 5. —ALG/KG/KVD, GMA News