Palace to appeal CA ruling in Ortega case

MALACAÑANG ON Monday, Jan. 8, said it will exhaust all legal remedies to reverse the Court of Appeals’ (CA) decision releasing former Palawan governor Mario Joel T. Reyes, the main suspect in the 2011 murder of broadcaster and environmental activist Gerardo “Gerry” V. Ortega.

“We will exercise all legal options to reverse this decision of the Court of Appeals,” Presidential Spokesperson Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. said in a press briefing. “The President remains the chief implementer of the laws. The case was filed by the Executive. We have gotten a decision from the Regional Trial Court that the evidence against former governor Joel Reyes is strong, which prompted the court to dismiss the petition of bail.”

Mr. Roque, himself a lawyer like Mr. Duterte, also pointed out that he was allowed by the President to comment on the case in his individual capacity.

“So I have expressed consent to comment, and my comment is: it is not true that the case was a miracle. The case, true, is a ‘ kababalaghan’( phenomenon), but it’s really a travesty of justice.”

The spokesman, who used to be a private legal counsel for Mr. Ortega’s family, also said: “I only left the case June 30, 2016 when I took my oath as member of the 17th Congress. At that time, we had concluded presentation of all evidence for the prosecution, and the defense had also concluded its presentation of evidence; and there was already a decision of the lower court that evidence of guilt was strong against former Governor Joel Reyes.”

Describing the CA’s decision as “alarming,” Mr. Roque also said it “overruled an earlier Supreme Court decision” and “arrogated its own judgment for that of the Regional Trial Court that had the opportunity to physically accept the evidence, observe the demeanor of the witnesses and concluded that there was in fact probable cause.”

“This is a very sad development for freedom of the press in this country, given that the murder of Gerry Ortega is a classic case of extralegal killings since Gerry Ortega was both a member of the journalism profession — he was a journalist and he’s also an activist. EO 35 classifies the killing of both journalist and activist as extralegal killings,” Mr. Roque said.

He explained that “the only issue in the petition is whether or not there was probable cause to charge former [ governor] Joel Reyes. There was already a prior Supreme Court decision, with Justice Marvic Leonen as ponente ruling on the validity of the second panel created to investigate and determine probable cause against Joel Reyes, and which panel concluded there was probable cause. And the Supreme Court, in that case, said that pursuant to the Crespo ruling which is Mark Jimenez, it is now up to the lower court, the Regional Trial Court to determine the existence of probable cause.”

Mr. Roque said the government will file first a motion for reconsideration, adding he will soon meet with Solicitor General Jose C. Calida and Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II to discuss the case.