Ping can still be indicted on murder raps — lawyer

A lawyer for opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson admitted yesterday during a five-hour Supreme Court hearing that his client can still be indicted on the murder of 11 Kuratong Baleleng gangmen in May 1995.

"I cannot use the defense of double jeopardy," Sigfrid Fortun conceded to Chief Justice Hilario Davide in reply to the latter’s query whether the March 1999 dismissal of the charges by then Quezon City Judge Wenceslao Agnir could impair the filing of a new murder case against Lacson.

Lacson’s lawyers had argued that their client could no longer be haled to court because it had been covered by a two-year prohibition, the case having been dismissed in 1999. In August last year, the special third division of the Court of Appeals held that Lacson could no longer be held liable on the basis of this dismissal which became final after two years.

In yesterday’s hearing, however, Davide held that "there is no impairment" to the filing of new charges since Lacson, along with his 37 co-accused, had not been arraigned yet, a prerequisite and a significant element before double jeopardy can be invoked.

He pointed out to Fortun that "regardless" of the two-year ban on the revival of dismissed cases, or Section 8, Rule 117 of the new Rules of Criminal Procedure, which took effect only in December 2000, the principle of double jeopardy "remain(s) unimpaired."

"You cannot impair the right of the State or individual to prosecute. If there is a conflict, Article 90 and 91 of the Revised Penal Code should prevail," Davide stressed, referring to the 20-year prescriptive period for murder offenses.

"There is no conflict in this. We have to harmonize. Another information can be filed against the accused," Davide emphasized. His view was shared by other justices, among them Reynato Puno, Artemio Panganiban, Vicente Mendoza and Leonardo Quisumbing.

The government, through Solicitor General Simeon Marcelo, contended that Lacson and his colleagues could still be indicted even if the case had been dismissed because they did not submit themselves to court arraignment.

Fortun made the same admission when Quisumbing was asking questions during the hearing, which started at 11 a.m. and ended at 3:45 p.m. yesterday. "That’s correct. There is no bar to the subsequent filing of another case," he said.

Junior Justice Antonio Carpio attended the proceedings but didn’t participate as he has inhibited himself, upon the prodding of Lacson’s lawyers, due to his "bias" on the case, having written two articles damaging to those allegedly involved in the murders.

Both government and the defense lawyers were given 10 days each to submit their respective memoranda reiterating the position they have taken on the issue. Thirteen jurists will vote on the case as Justice Bernardo Pardo has retired.

Lacson, along with Chief Superintendents Jewel Canson, Romeo Acop, Francisco Zubia, Senior Superintendents Michael Ray Aquino, Cesar Mancao III, Glenn Dumlao, and 31 other police officers were indicted for the cold-blooded murder of the gang members in 1995. At least two of the victims were probably innocent bystanders, reports said.

Lacson used to head the Task Force Habagat of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission that led to the arrest and alleged summary execution of the bank robbery syndicate along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Prosecutors deemed the case very crucial as this was one case that could pin down Lacson and his co-accused based on solid physical and testimonial evidence.