PACC to Duterte: Suspend DOJ prosecutors who dismissed drug raps vs. Kerwin Espinosa, others

The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) on Tuesday asked President Rodrigo Duterte to place under preventive suspension the prosecutors who dismissed the drug complaint against several personalities including Kerwin Espinosa and businessman Peter Lim.

PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez, in a letter addressed to the President, recommended the preventive suspension of Assistant State Prosecutor Michael John Humarang, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Rassendell Rex Gingoyon and Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan pending investigation on their possible administrative liability.

The anti-corruption body called for a lifestyle check on Lucena Regional Trial Court Judge Aristotle Reyes, also a member of the Department of Justice investigating panel that dismissed the complaint for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading for lack of evidence.

Gingoyon made the recommending approval to dismiss the charges, which was backed by Catalan.

The PACC said the prosecutors should be investigated by the Office of the President for gross neglect of duty and manifest partiality in the performance of duty that caused “undue damage” to the government.

“Something is fishy. The dismissal of Espinosa drug case will not be taken sitting down by the PACC. Our mandate is to assist the Office of the President to investigate corrupt and erring public officials in relation to the performance of their duties, and this is exactly what we will do,” Jimenez said in a statement.

The PACC also urged Duterte to order the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) to explain why its officials should not be held administratively liable after it was revealed that they did not submit to the DOJ the transcript of Espinosa’s admission of his involvement in the illegal drug trade during a Senate inquiry in November 2016.

“The incompetence in [the] preparation of complete and comprehensive complaint to stop illegal drugs brought a great deal to perpetuate miscarriage of justice,” PACC Commissioner Greco Belgica said.

The prosecutors are also facing a separate probe by the National Bureau of Investigation as ordered by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Aguirre on Monday apologized to the prosecutors for his action but said he had to do it because of the public uproar that followed the publication of the controversial resolution.

Even Duterte himself got upset by the dismissal of the complaint.

"Again, I apologize to the prosecutors for causing the investigation, because extraordinary times or extraordinary incidents call for extraordinary solutions or at least measures," Aguirre said.

He said he made the move to show the public that the DOJ has nothing to hide.

Aguirre has since ordered the review of the dismissal of the charges against Lim, Espinosa, convicted drug lord Peter Co and other personalities.

The dismissal is now considered "vacated," and both parties are encouraged to submit evidence to support their claims. —ALG, GMA News