MANILA – Sen. Leila de Lima filed criminal complaints against Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra and former agency head Vitaliano Aguirre II before the Office of the Ombudsman.
According to de Lima, Aguirre and Guevarra admitted and continued, respectively, the unlawful admission of 13 convicted felons as state witnesses in the illegal drug trade cases against her.
Aguirre and Guevarra were charged with negligence in prosecution, toleration of criminal offenses, and violations of Section 3 of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Guevarra was slapped with separate gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct charges for the DOJ’s failure to prosecute the convicts despite their public admission of their involvement in the drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.
“(Aguirre and Guevarra) violated Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code and grossly abused their power to favor convicted felons and protect them under the Witness Protection Security and Benefits Program,” said de Lima.
“Secretary Guevarra has already been notified. As such, the proper response was to remove them as beneficiaries. Still, he has refused and is unwilling to do so,” she added.
The 13 witnesses admitted into the Witness Protection Program were Nonilo Arile, Jojo Baligad, Herbert Colanggo, Engelberto Durano, Rodolfo Magleo, Vicente Sy, Hans Tan, Froilan Trestiza, Peter Co, Noel Martinez, Joel Capones, German Agojo, and Jaime Patcho – all of whom were convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude.
According to de Lima, it is clear under Section 10 of the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act that convicted felons are not qualified to become state witnesses.
“There is no room for any judgment call as their circumstance as convicts for crimes involving moral turpitude is beyond debate and is readily apparent,” the detained senator said.
“The failure to file the necessary information is a flagrant breach of duty on the part of the secretary. Ultimately, he has committed gross neglect of duty as the secretary of Justice,” she added.
The Regional Trial Court Branch 206 in Muntinlupa City earlier junked de Lima’s motion seeking to disqualify the 13 convicts from state witness protection./PN
