‘Mulcting’ prosecutor charged

A woman prosecutor of the Sandiganbayan is facing charges with the Office of the Ombudsman for demanding P50,000 from a lawyer in exchange for the supposed dismissal of criminal cases against the lawyer’s client.

Lawyer Evelyn Lucero, special prosecutor II, was charged with estafa and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The charges stemmed from Lucero’s alleged role in an attempt to fix the dismissal of two of the criminal cases against one Delfin Vaquilar, pending in the fifth division of the Sandiganbayan.

Investigation by the Fact-Finding and Intelligence Bureau showed that lawyer Agustin Chan, Vaquilar’s counsel, asked Lucero on March 10 last year if she could help them work out a dismissal of two of Vaquilar’s criminal cases.

Graft investigation officer Sherwin Casurao said Lucero assured Chan that she would work out the dismissal, but that they had to give her P50,000.

Casurao said Lucero told Chan that P30,000 of the amount would allegedly go to prosecutor Henedina Pulgar, who was then handling the prosecution of the two criminal cases against Vaquilar.

The P50,000 was handed to Lucero on March 10 last year after Chan and Vaquilar attended the hearing on their motion for reconsideration for the two cases.

Pulgar said Chan informed her that they gave the amount to Lucero as per their agreement, and that P30,000 of the sum was for her, as Lucero had told them.

Pulgar said she was shocked to hear that from Chan, adding that she neither asked for money from Chan and Vaquilar nor received a single centavo from Lucero.

Pulgar’s statements were corroborated by prosecutors Elvira Chua and Jesus Micael, who both heard Chan saying that he gave P50,000 to Lucero.