EDITORIAL - Big challenge

In another major development, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police have filed multiple murder and frustrated murder complaints in the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office against officials and members of the Highway Patrol Group-7 implicated in the ambush of prominent lawyer Noel Archival and members of his staff in February.

Named respondents were HPG-7 chief Senior Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara, Senior Insp. Joselito Lerion, SPO1 Edwin Galan SPO1 Alex Bacani, and some unidentified personnel.

Another set of complaints has been filed by the NBI against Iglesia, Mara, Lerion, Galan, and Bacani in the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for their alleged use of impounded vehicles.   

The filing of the latest complaints for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and gross misconduct was also in coordination with the PNP, according to lawyer Renan Oliva of the NBI-7.

Given all this development, however, we should know that the suspects are still innocent. The court has not yet spoken and those implicated should be left to live their normal lives, away from the scrutinizing eyes of the public.  

Of course, the filing of the complaints was just part of the legal process under our judicial system. And should the prosecutor find any merit, then we have a case to be tried in court.

It is unfortunate that in this country, court cases take long years to solve, especially if they involve prominent personalities. But we do hope that the Archival case will not suffer the same fate as those that have remained unresolved.

Once a complaint reaches the court, stakeholders of the case should exhaust all measures for its immediate resolution so justice can be served to the families of the victims. So there is now a big challenge for the NBI and the PNP to convince the prosecutor that what they have are valid complaints worth looking into.