Duterte to DOJ chief: Do what is right

MANILA, Philippines — As the new head of an agency mired in controversy, newly appointed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra’s marching order from President Duterte was to “do what is right.”

Guevarra took his oath of office last Thursday, the same day Duterte announced that he had accepted the resignation of Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Before his appointment as justice chief, Guevarra was senior deputy executive secretary. 

“I thank the President for his trust. His sole instruction to me: do what is right,” Guevarra said in a text message yesterday.

He said he would work for a few more days at the Office of the President before assuming his new post.

Guevarra said Duterte also told him to bring back the “dignified image” of the justice department.

Under Aguirre, a law fraternity brother and former classmate of Duterte at San Beda College, the justice department was embroiled in a string of controversies, the latest of which was the dismissal of criminal charges against suspected drug lords Peter Lim and Kerwin Espinosa.

Espinosa’s father, the slain Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa, was one of the politicians believed to have had ties with drug lords.

Lim, meanwhile, denied involvement in the illicit drug trade.

The others cleared by state prosecutors under Aguirre were suspected New Bilibid Prison drug trafficker Peter Co, Max Miro, Ruel Malindangan, Jun Pepito, Lovely Adam Impal and 12 other individuals.

Duterte reportedly got infuriated by the dismissal of the charges, even threatening to put Aguirre in jail if the drug suspects get away.

Weeks before he resigned, Aguirre said he had asked prosecutors to scrap the dismissal of charges against Lim and Espinosa. He claimed that the decision to dismiss the charges did not reach his office.

Aguirre was also justice secretary when immigration deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles were implicated in a P50-million bribery scandal. The immigration bureau is under the justice department.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Aguirre resigned because he may have felt that the President no longer trusted him.

“I remember him when he was being interviewed, he said if I saw in the body language of the President that he lost his trust in me, I will immediately resign. I think that is the reason for his resignation,” Panelo told radio station dwFM. 

Undoing Aguirre

For Liberal Party (LP) president Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Guevarra should “avoid what his predecessor did” if he wants to restore the credibility of the DOJ.

Pangilinan said he welcomed the appointment of Guevarra as he had personally worked with him during the previous administration. He said he can vouch for Guevarra’s professionalism.

“I have reason to be optimistic. I wish him well. We welcome his choice. He is a professional. I know him to be a stickler for the rules. So we congratulate him and wish him all the best,” the senator said.

Pangilinan and the other members of the LP despised Aguirre for his many blunders and for using his office to harass the political opposition.

With Guevarra now at the helm of the DOJ, Pangilinan said the department is in good hands.

“He only has to avoid what his predecessor did and I think he will be able to do a much better job,” Pangilinan said.

While he welcomed the exit of Aguirre from the DOJ, Pangilinan said the former DOJ chief must be held accountable for his actions as justice chief.

He said Aguirre should not be “kicked upstairs” or given a new post in government, as such would not bode well for the administration.

“He should be investigated with regard to the wrong moves of the DOJ in the past. There has to be a no-nonsense investigation,” he said.

Pangilinan recalled that under Aguirre’s watch, known drug lords were cleared of criminal charges while the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison persisted.

“We welcome his departure from the DOJ but we believe he still should be held to account for these controversial decisions,” he said.

For Guevarra to be effective, he should be given “men and materiel” he urgently needs as mere changing of the guard would not automatically lead to improvements at the DOJ, Senate president pro-tempore Ralph Recto said yesterday.

Recto said the DOJ “is hobbled by across-the-board shortages in personnel and equipment.”

The DOJ has a budget of P18.4 billion this year, P1.35 billion of which is for capital outlay.

“While the nation’s focus is on him (Guevarra), the justice secretary is not the justice system. The latter consists of men and women who assist pauper litigants, represent the people in courts, guard our prisons, sit in parole boards and run after big organized crime,” he said.

Fill vacancies

The senator said Guevarra’s first order of business is to fill vacancies in key DOJ agencies and ask his former office, Malacañang, to propose higher funding for new equipment and buildings.

“For example, there are 1,657 vacant prosecutorial posts. The problem is that there are no takers because of the low pay for the hard labor, and the only bonus one gets is ‘unli’ death threats,” he said.

As a result, one prosecutor handles about 403 criminal cases, Recto said. A prosecutor attends three court hearings almost daily, in addition to preliminary investigations, retrials, witness deposition, mediation, among others, he said.

There is also a shortage of public attorneys. At present, one Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) lawyer handles 5,237 clients a year and, at any given time, has 504 cases in court.

“All of them lack computers. They need paralegals to back them up. Comfortable offices are a rarity. And when it comes to preparing briefs, it is buy-your-own-supplies,” Recto lamented.

He said another DOJ-run agency, Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), is suffering from prisoner congestion.

Two years ago, the BuCor’s eight prisons were already 151 percent overcapacity, he said, adding that in 2016, the New Bilibid Prison reported a congestion rate of 181 percent with 23,749 prisoners staying at the old facility designed to house 8,460.

Recto blamed slow case disposition for the congestion of prisons, which turn them into “corporate headquarters of crime syndicates and as graduate schools for their members.”

He said solving DOJ’s woes “requires tripartite collaboration” by the three branches.

He said Congress should fund the improvements while the judiciary should address the slow disposition of cases.

“If we want to bolster the rule of law, which is now being threatened by people and institutions tempted to embrace illegal means in seeking justice, then the first step is to provide the resources needed,” Recto said. “Budget delayed is justice denied.”

Meanwhile, detained Sen. Leila de Lima described Aguirre’s resignation and Duterte’s acceptance as “just like a scene in a Mafia movie with a bad script, tired storyline and rotten acting.”

“In such movies, the leader of the criminal syndicate orders the liquidation of a henchman who is a threat or a burden to the organization, or the minion failed in his last mission,” De Lima said in a statement.

“We should never lose sight of the fact that it is Duterte and his cohorts, including and especially Aguirre, who have been responsible for the high incidence of crimes of impunity and the brazen abuses of power in our country today,” she said.

Sen. Sonny Angara said Aguirre made the “right move” with his resignation as many of the DOJ’s recent decisions tended to put the administration, wittingly or unwittingly, in an unfavorable light.

“His resignation gives the President a chance to make a fresh start at the DOJ. It is important for the public to see the department as a trustworthy pillar of the country’s justice system,” Angara said. – Evelyn Macairan, Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy