■ MALVERSATION CASE OVER 2002 PORK BARREL ‘MISUSE’ TO PROCEED

The alleged misuse of some P15 million in congressional pork barrel funds in 2002 continues to haunt some officials in Cebu. The Sandiganbayan has again denied Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza’s motion for leave to file a demurrer to evidence. Filing a demurrer is a move the defense can make if it thinks the prosecution’s case is so weak that the just thing to do would be to stop the trial. In this case, however, the Sandiganbayan’s 6th Division found that the testimonies and documents the prosecution showed in court “if unrebutted, is sufficient to convict the accused.” Radaza was the treasurer of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) Cebu Council when it supposedly received P15 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund of then-congresswoman Clavel Asas-Martinez some 16 years ago. How the amount was used wasn’t reflected in the GSP’s audit report.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is asking the Department of Justice to junk the motion of businessman Peter Lim that seeks to stop the reinvestigation of his alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

Lim’s camp pointed out that a panel of state prosecutors dismissed the complaint the Philippine National Police had filed against him and other suspected drug personalities.

On Monday, another preliminary investigation will be conducted by a new panel that was created by former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, who also directed the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to come up with new evidence against Lim and the other suspected drug personalities.

According to the OSG, Aguirre’s order, dated March 9, 2018, to reinvestigate the cases against Lim and the others has legal basis.

Due process, speedy trial

Lim’s camp has been saying that Aguirre’s change of heart was a reaction to the public outcry when the cases against Lim and other suspect drug personalities were dismissed.

“Under these circumstances, it is clear that the former Secretary of Justice issued the March 9, 2018 order because he had every reason to believe that the dismissal of the complaint would cause a probable miscarriage of justice to the entire People of the Philippines,” the OSG said on GMA News Online.

The OSG pointed out that Kerwin Espinosa, one of Lim’s co-accused, had confessed to being a drug lord during a Senate hearing. Espinosa, in his judicial affidavit, also disclosed Lim and suspected drug lord Peter Co’s involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

According to Atty. Magilyn Loja, one of Lim’s lawyers, they are worried that their client’s right to due process and a speedy trial will be violated as a result of Aguirre’s resolution that’s why they filed a motion to dismiss Aguirre’s order last March.

But the OSG said that it was within Aguirre’s power, as then justice secretary, to issue the order.

On Dec. 20, 2017, a prosecution panel dismissed the complaints against Lim and other suspected drug personalities. But the matter was only made public last March.

Because of the controversy that ensued, Aguirre resigned as justice secretary. But before he stepped down, he formed a new panel to reinvestigate Lim and other suspected drug personalities’ cases.