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DOJ forms 3 panels to handle high-profile cases


Justice Sec. Leila de Lima has formed three panels that will handle three high-profile cases lodged before her department by designating prosecutors who will compose each of the panels. In separate department orders issued last June 3, De Lima designated the following prosecutors for each team:

  • Quezon City Prosecutor Donald Lee, Assistant State Prosecutor Ferdinand Fernandez, Assistant State Prosecutor Vilma Lopez-Sarmiento to handle the graft and obstruction of justice charges filed against former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for her alleged inaction on the P728-million fertilizer fund mess;
  • Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera, Irwin Maraya, Ethel Rea Suril to handle the string of criminal charges against retired Major General Jovito Palparan and other members of the military in connection with the disappearance of two University of the Philippines student-activists in 2006;
  • Assistant State Prosecutors Mari Elvira Herrera, Josie Christina Dugay, and Hazel Decena-Valdez to handle the charges filed against the three Sandiganbayan justices who approved the controversial plea bargaining agreement between the Office of the Ombudsman and Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia, a retired military comptroller accused of plunder. The department panels will conduct a preliminary investigation to determine if there is probable cause to file appropriate charges against the respondents before the proper court. Gutierrez Last month, militant groups said that while Gutierrez may have evaded an impeachment trial at the Senate following her resignation, she must still be held accountable for her alleged inaction in looking into former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's alleged involvement in the fertilizer fund scam. In their complaint, the groups held Gutierrez accountable for the following offenses: violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, obstruction of justice, and perjury. The groups decried the supposed "inordinate delay" in the filing of plunder charges against former Agriculture officials Luis "Cito" Lorenzo and Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante. Palparan Meanwhile, Palparan and his subordinates are being accused of the following offenses: rape, serious physical injuries, arbitrary detention, maltreatment of prisoners, grave threats, and grave coercion. The Palparan-led military unit supposedly had a hand in the disappearance of UP student-activists Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño. Palparan, former 7th Infantry Division commanding general who lost his senatorial bid in the May 2010 polls, has repeatedly denied committing human rights atrocities and extrajudicial killings that targeted activists and insurgents when he was still in the military service. Anti-graft court justices Also last month, a group led by former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel filed a criminal complaint against Associate Justices Edilberto Sandoval, Teresita Diaz-Baldos, and Samuel Martires over their supposed "unjust" decision. The group said justices should be sanctioned for violating Article 206 of the Revised Penal Code when it issued an "unjust interlocutory order." According to the Supreme Court, an order is interlocutory if it does not dispose of a case completely, but leaves something more to be done on its merits. The complainants said the order approving the plea bargain is interlocutory because "it does not dispose of the case completely and left something else to be done by the Second Division." — LBG, GMA News
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