SC denies Dacers' appeal vs CA's pro-Lacson ruling

(Updated 5:01 p.m.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied the Dacer family's petition asking for the reversal of a Court of Appeals ruling that dismissed the double murder charges against Sen. Panfilo Lacson in connection with the Dacer-Corbito killings more than 10 years ago. In a 12-page decision, the SC's Third Division ruled that the Dacers have no legal personalities to seek an appeal because as a private aggrieved party, "they are not real parties in interest to appeal by petition for review." "Only the State and its representatives may appeal the dismissal of a criminal action. That the State is the offended party in criminal proceedings is a doctrine we must uphold because it is founded on the fundamental definition of crimes and the authority of the State to exact penalties [thereof]," said the decision penned by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales. The SC said that only the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), on behalf of the State, may run to the SC to appeal the CA's dismissal of a criminal action. However, the OSG, which represents the Department of Justice (DOJ), had waived its right to file an appeal with the high court. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had earlier said that instead of bringing the matter to the SC, her department will just re-investigate the case. Promptly, Lacson welcomed the high court's ruling. "Salamat naman sa Diyos, at least makakapagtrabaho na ako (Thank God, at least now I'll be able to work). I can perform my duties as a senator without the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over my head," Lacson said. SC: We did not rule on merits The SC's decision, however, clarified that it did not rule on whether the CA erred in dismissing the criminal charges against Lacson. It said it tried to find out a remedy that it may grant to the Dacers, but because the Dacers have no legal personality to file a petition for review, such petition must be dismissed. "We have dug deeply into the arsenal of remedies that this Court may grant and in this instance have come up empty. Whether or not the CA committed any reversible error in nullifying the issuance by a lower court of a warrant of arrest against Senator Lacson is a question we may not address, because it was not posed by the right party," said the SC. Lacson was accused of ordering the killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby" Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000 when he was still head of the Philippine National Police and, in a concurrent capacity, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force. Dacers accorded due process The SC also said that there are two exceptions when a private complainant or offended party in a criminal case may file a petition for review directly with the SC:

When there is denial of due process of law to the prosecution, and the State or its agents refuse to act to the prejudice of the State and the offended party;

When the private offended party assails the civil aspect of a decision of a lower court. But the SC said that the Dacers do not fall under both exceptions. "The antecedents show that the petitioners vigorously participated in the proceedings in the CA, specifically through their comment on the petition for certiorari of Senator Lacson, through their memorandum, and through their motion for reconsideration against the February 3, 2011 decision of the CA," said the SC. "Such vigorous participation satisfied the requirements of due process to afford to the parties a fair and reasonable opportunity to explain their respective sides of the controversy," it added. — with Kim Tan/KBK/RSJ, GMA News