Tweet me!Groups chronically disgusted with anything the Arroyo administration does have rebuked Secretary Agra.
Expectedly, the Liberal Party’s (LP) presidential and vice presidential candidates, Senators Benigno Aquino 3rd and Mar Roxas berated Mr. Agra. They attacked him not only for his decision to clear the two Ampatuans. They also lambasted him for acting unilaterally, bypassing state prosecutors and thereby derailing the prosecution process.
The expected partisan coloring of their legitimate criticism of Mr. Agra’s act shone through when the LP duo alleged that Mr. Agra’s “move is another confirmation of the LP warning of a Malacañang—hatched grand scheme to perpetrate massive cheating operations in Mindanao.”
Mr. Aquino further said Secretary Agra should have given courtesy to state prosecutors handling the preliminary investigation of the murder charges filed against the Ampatuans for the politically motivated, grisly death of 57 victims. Since the case had been filed, why, Mr. Aquino asked, did he not allow the court to decide if the case had any merit?
Reflecting the general thinking about this matter, Sen. Mar Roxas said he was baffled at how Sec. Agra arrived at his decision to dismiss the murder charges against suspended ARMM’s Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and Mamasano town Mayor Akmad Ampatuan Sr.
Other politicians, like Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate Sen. Pia Cayetano, thinks Mr. Agra could be charged with dereliction of duty. She explained at a press conference that initially the prosecutorial function of the DOJ is initially only to determine if there is sufficient reason to hold a well-grounded conviction that a crime has been committed by the suspect. It is later, when the prosecutor proceeds to try the case, that the question of rigorously high standards of evidence is to be applied.
Other laws agree that there had been a dereliction of duty to keep the suspects under investigation when the DOJ as prosecutor weakened the state’s case against the band of Ampatuan suspects by clearing two of the primary actors on the ground that evidence and witnesses needed to win the case during the future trial are not at hand.
Letting Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and Mayor Akmad Ampatuan go free, said Senator Cayetano, is a denial of due process and denial of justice to the victims.
Five other Nacionalista candidates for senator, Ramon “Mon-Mon” Mitra, Susan “Toots” Ople, Gwen Pimentel, Gilbert Remulla and Adel Tamano also spoke against the DOJ chief’s decision and wore black to manifest their mourning for the death of justice caused by Mr. Agra’s decision.
Of course, the militant groups—militant is a code for “leftist” in Philippine journalism—were also incensed. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) called for the resignation of Mr. Agra from his acting Justice Secretary position. It at the same time urged President Gloria Arroyo to fire him. The Bayan Secretary General said Mr. Agra’s continuing hold of the DOJ top post will undermine the effort to convict all the accused in the Maguindanao massacre. He said that while Malacañang has washed its hands of Sec. Agra’s decision, it has not done anything to address the public’s outrage and the victims’ plea for justice.
The lawyer of the massacre victims, Mr. Harry Roque. told a press conference that he was considering whether or not to file disbarment case against Mr. Agra.
Roque added that the Justice secretary can also be held accountable as a public official through the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Acts and for unethical behavior.
The Philippine National Police’s Senior Superintendent Benito Estipona, chief of Task Group Maguindanao, which was formed to tackle the massacre case, told the Inquirer he was saddened by the DOJ head’s action.
Estipona expressed disappointment that despite all the efforts to build up the case against the Ampatuans, the charges would be dropped against two of the clan members. PDI quoted Mr. Estipona as saying, that his group had “worked the case for so many months,” and “while the PNP did not have any strong evidence to implicate Zaldy and Akmad” and did not find any witnesses directly linking these two to the massacre, he knew that the investigators of the National Bureau of Investigation had gathered witnesses who said Zaldy was present when the massacre was being planned.
Probable cause principle supplanted
Even the Commission on Human Rights issued a statement expressing Chairwoman Leila de Lima’s “deep concern” over Justice Secretary Agra’s decision to drop charges against the two Ampatuan clan members.
“With due respect to the DOJ Secretary, he has a lot of explaining to do, especially in light of the fact that his own prosecutors are displeased as they apparently disagree with the secretary’s ruling,” de Lima said in a brief statement.
She reminded the DOJ that the Maguindanao massacre case should be treated with the “strictest attention” and that “government should not give concessions to powerful parties at the expense of complete, comprehensive legal remedies.” She asked: “Why is ‘probable cause’ being supplanted by another standard?”
The most damaging statement came from the very panel of DOJ prosecutors assigned to build the case against the Ampatuans.
“We, being in the frontline, still believe with due respect that there is probable cause to indict the two accused,” the panel of prosecutors who built the case said in a statement.
“As professional career prosecutors, it pains us to publicly disagree with the resolution of the justice secretary.”
On Monday, in answer to the prosecutors’ statement, Secretary Agra said he would reverse his decision if they could present new evidence against the two cleared accused. He insisted that he knew what he was doing.
Source: Manila Times
