MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:19 p.m.) — The Department of Justice is filing criminal charges against National Bureau of Investigation detainee Jad Dera and other personnel of the bureau over the high-profile drug suspect’s unauthorized trips outside his detention facility.
“After evaluation of the evidence, the assigned prosecutor found sufficient evidence to hold the respondents for trial,” DOJ said in a statement.
Related Stories
State prosecutors have resolved the complaint filed by the NBI National Task Force against Illegal Drugs against Dera, one bureau security officer and five other NBI personnel who are on job order status.
“There is probable cause in finding that Dera induced [Randy Godoy, Arnel Ganzon, Diana Rose Novelozo, Lee Eric Loreto, King Jeroh Martin and Pepe Piedad Jr.] to assist him escape from prison and that Godoy, Ganzon, Novelozo, Loreto, Martin and Piedad facilitated the escape of Dera from his detention facility,” the DOJ said.
Godoy, an NBI security officer, was accused of violating Article 223 of the Revised Penal Code or infidelity in the custody of prisoners. Dera and the five other NBI personnel meanwhile were indicted for violation of Article 156 or delivery of prisoners from jail.
Charges will be filed against them before the Manila City Metropolitan Trial Court, the DOJ added.
A copy of the resolution however is yet to be made public.
Lawyer Raymund Palad, Dera’s counsel, said in a statement that they have yet to review the resolution but “relying on the briefer provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ), it corroborates our previous stance that there exists no substantiated evidence of bribery or corruption involving public officials whatsoever.”
“Moreover, the notion that Dera's dining outside the confines of detention equates to an ‘escape’ within the context of legal terminology is unsupported. It is imperative to highlight that no indications of Dera eluding the jail facility have been brought forward,” he added.
The STAR earlier reported that Dera was facing bribery, corruption of public officials and graft and corruption complaints.
Dera’s trips
Dera was intercepted late last month as he was heading back to NBI headquarters in Manila. He was found to be carrying firearms, cash and other contraband, and security camera footage showed him eating at a buffet restaurant with his alleged girlfriend in Makati while he was out.
The DOJ said that an NBI organic and marked vehicle was used “under the pretense of a medical check-up outside” the premises, without court order.
Authorities seized P101,00 in cash from Dera. Also confiscated were P10,000 from Godoy and P11,000 from Veloso, which the DOJ said, “appeared to be the respondent’s payment for escorting out Dera from the detention facility.”
Dera is co-accused in the last of three drug cases that former Sen. Leila De Lima is facing. De Lima, who has been in government custody since 2017, has been acquitted in two other cases and maintains that they are made up and motivated by politics.
A Senate hearing into the incident was conducted last July 5 where the other accused in the case stated that they were merely heeding orders of Godoy.