‘Dismissal may draw flak in anti-smuggling drive’

BUTUAN CITY — The dismissal of the July 12 Butuan rice smuggling cases in both the Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao and the Butuan City Prosecutor‘s Office may send a wrong signal and may draw setback in the national government’s campaign against rice smuggling, said NBI Caraga Deputy Regional Director Reynaldo Esmeralda.

Esmeralda told The STAR he only knew last Monday that the smuggling case filed by the NBI and Butuan City Mayor Leonides Theresa Plaza against private individuals including the owner and crew members of the cargo ship MV Rodeo was dismissed by the Butuan City Prosecutor’s Office for lack of merit.

However, the City Prosecutor’s Office recommended the filing of smuggling charges before the court against three crew members of MV Rodeo but dismissed the case against alleged MV Rodeo owner, Zaldy Villa for alleged lack of evidence.

Esmeralda said he was dismayed by the actuations of the Butuan City Prosecutor’s Office by not allegedly furnishing the NBI Caraga Regional Office a copy of the resolution dated Jan. 10 dismissing the case. "I only knew it when I read The Philippine STAR (March 24 issue) that it was already dismissed," Esmeralda said.

Esmeralda also filed an Urgent Manifestation/Appeal before Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo that the dismissal of the Office of the Ombudsman for Mindanao is "irregular and bereft of any legal justification both in fact and in law.

"An identical case filed by the NBI in Cebu on the escape of cargo ship MV Great Faith in Cebu port allegedly also on rice smuggling, the Ombudsman for Visayas recommended the prosecution of all the respondents of the case," said Esmeralda in his letter to Ombudsman Marcelo. — Ben Serrano