MANILA, Philippines - Senator Panfilo Lacson has been cleared of multiple murder charges after the Supreme Court affirmed with finality the decision of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to exonerate the former police chief tagged in the 1995 Kuratong Baleleng rubout case.
In a ruling released on Wednesday, the high court said it agreed with Presiding Judge Ma. Theresa Yadao of Quezon City RTC Branch 81 when she said documentary records failed to establish probable cause against Lacson and other policemen involved in the case.
"In the absence of probable cause to indict respondents for the crime of multiple murder, they should be insulated from the tribulations, expenses and anxiety of a public trial," the SC said.
The SC justices unanimously voted in favor of Yadao's decision while Associate Justice Antonio Carpio inhibited himself from the case.
Associate Justice Roberto Abad, who penned the decision, said witness Senior Insp. Abelardo Ramos issued conflicting statements before the RTC and the Office of the Ombudsman which originally heard the case.
Ramos, in his testimony before the Ombudsman, said he was not in Parañaque City when members of the Kuratong Baleleng gang were arrested and when they were eventually killed in Quezon City.
He added that he was in Bulacan on the day of the shooting and was in his home the next day.
However, in a separate testimony in the Quezon City RTC, Ramos changed his story, claiming that he belonged to the team that killed the gang members.
"The Court cannot be less skeptical than Judge Yadao was in doubting the sudden reversal after six years of testimony of these witnesses," the SC said.
It added that the prosecution skipped the Court of Appeals after directly filing the petition for certiorari questioning Yadao's decision on the case.
The Kuratong Baleleng case involves 11 gang members who were reportedly killed in a shootout in Commonwealth, Quezon City after police brought them to Camp Crame.