Promotion for CIDG’s Marcos? Senators smell cover-up
Sen. Panfilo Lacson denounced yesterday the Duterte administration’s coddling and even possible promotion of Supt. Marvin Marcos who was spared from murder charges along with 17 other policemen involved in the killing of mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte in 2016.
PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa had returned Marcos to active duty, assigned to Region 12 or SOCCKSCARGEN as regional director of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
The 17 other policemen were assigned in the Visayas
and Mindanao.
During the Senate hearing yesterday, Dela Rosa admitted that President Duterte repeatedly told him to return to duty Marcos and the other officers charged for the killing of Espinosa and another inmate in November 2016.
Dela Rosa confirmed that the decision to place Marcos and his co-accused back on duty was based on what he deemed to be instructions of the President.
Marcos led members of the CIDG Region 8 that killed Espinosa and fellow detainee Raul Yap on Nov. 5, 2016 inside the Leyte sub-provincial jail in Baybay City.
Espinosa was detained for alleged drug trafficking. Duterte had described him as a narco politician.
The CIDG agents claimed that Espinosa fought back when they were trying to serve a search warrant to recover guns from the mayor in his detention cell.
According to Lacson, the regional director of CIDG in SOCCSKSCARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) carries the rank of senior superintendent, which means that Marcos’ promotion could be forthcoming.
“So there is a huge possibility that after six months, which is the required residency period, he can be promoted to senior superintendent,” Lacson said.
“We have all the reason to suspect that Marcos is being coddled here,” he added.
Lacson has made it clear to Dela Rosa that he was not happy with the way Marcos is being coddled and that he is against his being rewarded with a promotion.
“The reason I mentioned this is really to preempt whatever it is they are planning because he is already at the entry point. He was given an entry point to be promoted. At least I made them conscious that the Senate is watching closely,” Lacson said.
The senators got the impression of an ongoing cover-up in the case of Marcos and the 17 other police officers at yesterday’s hearing of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, chaired by Lacson.
The Senate inquiry was called after the Department of Justice downgraded the murder charges recommended by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against the policemen involved in the operations to homicide that allowed them to post bail.
According to Dela Rosa, the President repeatedly told him to return Marcos and his men to duty since the government is paying their salaries.
“As far as the reassignment back to CIDG… the President really said that we should use these people. We lack people on the ground. They are being paid so let’s put them to work,” Dela Rosa said.
Asked by Sen. Grace Poe if he tried to recommend to the President not to give assignments to Marcos and his men, Dela Rosa admitted that he advised him to wait until the issue had died down.
“But he always says to get them back because they are not doing anything. I took it as an order. I’m just taking hints from his pronouncements,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa said he would take full responsibility if the officers commit wrongdoing again in their new assignments.
Asked by Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV if it was normal practice to place policemen accused of committing serious crimes back on duty, Dela Rosa said that it was “not so normal” and that it was just the instruction of the President to get them back to their rounds.
Aquino said that the case of Marcos and his men could send a bad signal to the public about how erring policemen are treated and could also end up risking the credibility of the entire police force.
Dela Rosa, however, denied that Duterte had influenced the decision to downgrade the murder case to homicide.
He said that the pronouncements made by the President about protecting policemen who get in trouble while performing their duties did not affect his decision regarding the cases of Marcos and his subordinates.
“The pronouncements of the President were continuous, it does not affect our decision. He did not call me up to give me instructions whether to absolve or penalize Marcos. He never interfered,” Dela Rosa said.
Dela Rosa defended the decision on Marcos and his men, who he said went through the legal process and were penalized already.
“I think if we look at it in one way, if we can accord this kind of process to ordinary criminals, then we should also make this available to ordinary policemen,” Dela Rosa said.
“This boosts the morale (of the PNP). Because the President is a man of his word. He said that if you (police) run into trouble, I will back you up, I will not abandon you. What Superintendent Marcos did, it was in the line of duty. Supt. Marcos is being assisted to get back to work so this boosts the morale,” he added.
Probers recommend murder raps
State prosecutors and NBI agents who investigated the policemen involved in the killing of Espinosa and Yap stood firm on their recommendation to charge Marcos and his men with murder and not homicide as assessed by Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo.
The NBI, in its own investigation, also came up with the same findings as the panel of prosecutors.
The report of the panel was eventually reviewed and revised by Orceo, who issued a resolution downgrading the charges against Marcos and his men from murder to homicide.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo said that the panel only found out that Orceo and his team had taken over the case in the news reports, but she understood it was the prerogative of the justice secretary to reverse their recommendation.
NBI Director Dante Gierran said that a motion for reconsideration has been filed with the office of Orceo.