EDITORIAL - File the charges

Now that key players in the controversy surrounding a drug case have emerged, certain things should come out of different investigations that are currently underway.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency should back up its allegations of a bribery attempt to secure the release of three drug suspects by filing criminal complaints against everyone who supposedly offered a bribe or is suspected to have accepted a bribe. These include government prosecutors at the Department of Justice as well as a former Philippine Military Academy classmate of Marine Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, who is detailed with the PDEA. Marcelino’s PMA “mistah” supposedly dangled a P3-million bribe in exchange for reducing the charges against drug suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Jordana Joseph and Joseph Tecson.

The prosecutors maintain their innocence and say that they recommended the release of the suspects because the PDEA bungled the case. The case is under review; Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has promised to hand down a decision within 10 days. In the meantime, the three suspects will remain in PDEA custody.

Felisberto Verano, a lawyer for one of the suspects, admitted drafting the release order and forwarding it to the office of his Ateneo law classmate and fraternity   brother,   Justice   Under-secretary Ricardo Blancaflor, for the signed approval of Gonzalez. If Verano committed an act of impropriety or a crime, appropriate complaints should be filed and sanctions imposed.

If Gonzalez supports his prosecutors’ findings and approves the release of the suspects, Congress should find out how many other drug cases have been dismissed under similar circumstances so that the lapses will not be repeated. The other day the House of Representatives was told that many drug cases are dismissed by the DOJ and the courts because law enforcers ignored or did not know how to conduct a lawful arrest, sting operation or seizure of evidence. Those detailed laws and regulations are there to protect the innocent from being framed, to discourage the abuse of state power, and ensure that drug offenders are sent to prison under the country’s tough laws only if guilt is established beyond reasonable doubt.

The same requirement for guilt must be met to send crooked public officials and influence peddlers to prison. PDEA officials look like they passionately believe that they have a strong case not just for drug dealing against the three arrested suspects but also for bribery. PDEA officials should not hesitate to file the appropriate criminal complaints. The public will appreciate knowing the extent of a stink involving “fix-cals.”