Barbers sees trend in prosecutors’ clearing drug personalities

Surigao Del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers on Thursday said he was seeing a trend in the exoneration by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of individuals allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.

Barbers, the chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, made the observation after state prosecutors dismissed the drug charges against businessman Peter Lim and self-confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa due to weak evidence.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, Barbers pointed out that this was not the first time that drug personalities escaped liability over their alleged involvement in drug transactions.

Barber's committee has earlier conducted an inquiry into the P6.4-billion worth of smuggled shabu from China, which recommended charges against Bureau of Customs officials including former chief Nicanor Faeldon.

"Doon sa aming mga rekomendasyon ay walang nakasuhan sa mga kawani ng Bureau of Customs. Ang nakasuhan lang ay yung mga sibilyan kagaya nila Mark Taguba at Richard Chen," Barbers said.

Meanwhile, Barbers said the charges filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency against BOC officials were also dismissed by the DOJ prosecuting panel.

"So nakita namin na bakit parang may thread yata ngayon na kapag ang kaso ay may involvement sa droga ay napakadaling ma-dismiss at ang basehan ng dismissal ay yung kawalan daw ng ebidensya," he said.

Barbers noted that the job of the prosecutors is only to determine probable cause, not sufficiency of evidence.

"Hindi trabaho ng mga piskal yung pag-determine ng sufficiency of evidence. Ang kanilang trabaho ay i-determine lamang yung probable cause at kung ito ba ay may rason o dahilan na i-file ang kaso," he said.

Barbers took exception on Aguirre's statement that state prosecutors are not obligated to listen to congressional hearings which investigate the controversies in which the drug personalities are involved in.

"Kaya nga tayo nagpapatawag ng mga imbestigasyon, hindi lamang in-aid of legislation, kundi magrekumenda rin ng mga possible na mga cases of prosecution against people involved that may involve malfeasance, misfeasance and non-feasance sa gobyerno," he said.

Aguirre has already formed a panel that will review the resolution that dismissed the drug charges against Lim and Espinosa, as he said the dismissal of the charges is not yet final. —NB, GMA News