DOJ seeks security for Abra prosecutors amid threats by mayor

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to secure two prosecutors in the northern province of Abra due to death threats from the mayor of Lagayan town. A statement by Department of Justice said Gonzalez also wrote Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to investigate the mayor, Jendrix Luna, and charge him administratively. In his letter to PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa on Nov. 17, the DOJ secretary specifically asked that the security escorts for provincial prosecutor Nestor S. Tolentino and assistant provincial prosecutor Raphael Alzate come from outside the Abra provincial and Cordillera regional police force. According to the statement, an enraged Gonzalez sought Verzosa's intervention after Mayor Luna called up Tolentino on November 12 and demanded that a case in which he was interested be finished by the end of the month. “When the prosecutor replied that due process must be observed, Luna flared up, hurled invectives and threatened him with death. “Not content with threatening Tolentino, Luna and seven of his men went to his office at the Hall of Justice but instead found Alzate, whom he confronted and cursed. One of Luna's men shoved the latter while the others surrounded him," the statement said. “ As they were trying to force Alzate out of the room, a stenographer, Julieta Sanchez, embraced him whole a court sheriff, Anna Favila Sanchez, pleaded with the men to stop. A certain lawyer Atmosphera also held his belt to prevent the men from taking him. “Failing to take Alzate, Luna and his men saw the son of barangay captain Miro Guyang and shouted to his men: "This is the one, shoot him so you can have your revenge!" One man pulled a gun from his bag and another pulled his weapon from a holster but Mrs. Marjorie Lingbaoan started crying, pleading with them to stop. The group eventually left the room," the statement said. Mayor Luna is the son of Abra Rep. Cecille Luna. The mayor and two of his brothers were among seven people injured in a bomb attack on their house in the capital town of Bangued last December. The Lunas belong to an alliance of political families opposed to the group of former Abra Gov. Vicente Valera, who was linked to the murder of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr in Manila in December 2006. Gonzalez said his department would be filing criminal charges against Luna and seven of his armed bodyguards for the verbal threats on Tolentino and the physical assault on Alzate, according to the DOJ statement. "Needless to say, Mayor Luna's deplorable acts should not be countenanced. No person, regardless of his office, should be allowed to unlawfully and gravely threaten or intimidate Department of Justice (DOJ) officials while the latter are performing their functions," he said in his letter to Puno. The statement said Prosecutor Tolentino immediately reported the Nov. 12 incident at the Bangued Hall of Justice to Regional State Prosecutor Nonnatus Caesar R. Rojas in San Fernando, La Union and labeled Luna's action not merely an affront on his person "but more so to the Office we represent, to the Court and the entire Judicial System." In turn, Rojas also wrote Verzosa about incident on Nov. 14 and said the assault on Alzate happened in full view of lawyers, judges and litigants. He told Verzosa that armed men have started to case the house of Tolentino. Rojas also sought security escorts for 3rd assistant provincial prosecutor Gerardo M. Tagura and assistant provincial prosecutor Marcelo O. Ortega. Abra has been tagged by police as one of the provinces in the country teeming with private armed groups and hired killers. Despite a crackdown by the PNP following the assassination of Rep. Bersamin in Quezon City in 2006, the threat of violence still remains. - GMANews.TV