SC okays petition to try 3 ex-HPG officials in Cebu
THE trial of the multiple murder and frustrated murder case against the three former officials of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) 7 will be conducted in Cebu City.
This, after Supreme Court granted the petition of Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival to transfer the venue of the case from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 26 in Argao town to the city.
Prosecution lawyer Democrito Barcenas said they will ask Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ricardo Marquez to locate and arrest the respondents.
“Their flight is an indication of guilt. Sooner or later, they must face the trial,” said Barcenas.
The accused are Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, former HPG 7 director; Insp. Joselito Lerion, former HPG 7 Special Operations Team chief; and PO1 Alex Bacani.
Bacani, Lerion and Iglesia are facing multiple murder and frustrated murder cases, which are both nonbailable offenses.
The SC also denied the defense’s request to move the trial to Manila.
Reynaldo Lugtu, Bacani’s lawyer, cited the alleged influence of Councilor Nestor, brother of lawyer Noel Archival, who was killed in an ambush last Feb. 18 in Dalaugete.
With dispatch
But Barcenas called the defense’s move “preposterous and impractical.”
In the notice signed by Teresita Aquino Tuazon, the SC’s deputy division clerk of court, the SC directed RTC Branch 26 Judge Maximo Perez in Argao to forward case records to the RTC in Cebu City, where the case will be raffled off to a new judge.
The SC also ordered the new judge to try the case with dispatch.
Last December, the Of- fice of the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of Bacani, Lerion, Iglesia and SPO4 Edwin Galan for six months without pay.
Former HPG provincial chief Eduardo Mara was spared since he retired from government service.
Except for Galan, who was cleared by prosecutors, Iglesia, Lerion and Bacani are facing a multiple murder case for the deaths of Archival, his aide Candido Miñoza and driver Alejandro Jayme, and a frustrated murder case for injuries sustained by Paolo Cortes during the ambush in Dalaguete, Cebu last year.
The policemen are considered fugitives and are subjects of a nationwide manhunt.
The PNP Personnel and Records Management, issued the special order dropping the accused from the roll last Jan. 26 for being absent without official leave.