Prosecutors in Kuratong slays want SC to prioritize case

MANILA, Philippines – Thirteen years after the alleged massacre of the Kuratong Baleleng gang members, there has yet to be a resolution of the case.

During yesterday’s press conference at the Hizon’s Restaurant in Ermita, Manila, private prosecutors handling the case called on the Supreme Court to prioritize this case “in accord with its commitment to provide judicial remedies for human rights abuses.”

The lawyers who attended the conference were Christian Lim, Arno Sanidad, Jose Manuel Diokno and Theodore Te.

In a one-page statement read by Sanidad, the lawyers said the criminal prosecution has gone to the Supreme Court thrice in a span of 13 years without even reaching an arraignment, which is the very first step of the trial.

“The time has come to end cries of political harassment while simultaneously employing dilatory legal maneuverings. The accused should be bold in confronting the State’s evidence and in proving their defense that a legitimate police encounter indeed occurred on May 18, 1995,” the private prosecutors said.

Otherwise, they suffer the fate of being publicly accused of waiting it out until their case is rendered moot and academic by the loss of key witnesses, the prosecutors said.

“We implore the Supreme Court to give this case the priority it deserves and render judgment on the petition without further delay,” said the private prosecutors.

They said relatives of the victims have also filed an intervention in the case before the Supreme Court adding new evidence consisting of their eyewitness accounts that several of the accused acted in conspiracy to intimidate them into signing affidavits of desistance to secure dismissal of the case then pending before Judge Wenceslao Agnir, Branch 81 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC).

Two government institutions, the Office of the Solicitor General and the Department of Justice (DOJ), have jointly taken the position that the evidence in this case is more than sufficient to secure conviction for multiple murder.

Several eyewitnesses who saw the planning of the arrest and execution of the 11 victims, including the direct order given by the highest officers responsible for the operation – then Chief Superintendent Jewel Canson of the National Capital Regional Command, Chief Superintendent Romeo Acop of the Criminal Investigation Command (CIC) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Senior Superintendent Francisco Zubia, of the Traffic Management Command (TMC), and Sen. Panfilo Lacson, as then chief of the Task Force Habagat of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) – to accomplish a rub-out while the victims were under the custody of the police, have been waiting 13 years to give their testimony in court.

This is why, they said, a petition questioning the dismissal of the case by Judge Theresa Yadao for lack of evidence to sustain probable cause has been filed with the Supreme Court and requires urgent judicial action.

To date, all the accused have filed their comments on the petition pending before the Supreme Court with the exception of a few who cannot be located anymore or who have fled abroad, but were served notices through the PNP.

The OSG and DOJ prosecutors as well as the private prosecutors have filed separate Motions to Resolve the case. The relatives of the slain members of the Kuratong Baleleng gang have written the Supreme Court to express hope that the case be resolved as soon as possible.

The witnesses under the DOJ Witnesses Protection Program have also written the DOJ expressing their desire to seek an early prosecution of the case so they can go on with their lives, they said.

Any further delay in the resolution of the case, the private prosecutors said, will have the effect that the Supreme Court seeks to avoid with its renewed commitment in issuing writs of amparo, habeas data and habeas corpus – state impunity and the continued rise in unexplained killings in the country.