SC junks govt appeal, clears Lacson with finality in Kuratong Baleleng case

The Supreme Court has upheld with finality the ruling of a Quezon City court clearing former Philippine National Police chief and incumbent Sen. Panfilo Lacson of murder charges in relation to the Kuratong Baleleng rubout case.

 

This, after the high court in a two-page decision denied a motion for reconsideration filed by the Office of the Solicitor General seeking to reverse a decision of the SC dated November 13, 2012 that upheld the trial court's ruling.

 

In its ruling, Judge Ma. Theresa Yadao of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 dismissed the murder case against Lacson and 33 other policemen and civilians on November 12, 2003 because documentary records, including affidavits of the policemen-witnesses, failed to establish probable cause against Lacson and other police officials implicated in the case.

 

The local court noted that the police officers who stood as witnesses "took no part in the operations against the Kuratong Baleleng Gang members."

 

In its Nov. 13, 2012 ruling, the high court upheld the Quezon judge's decision. “The Court cannot be less skeptical than Judge Yadao was in doubting the sudden reversal after six years of testimony of these witnesses," the SC said.

 

In its latest ruling denying the government's motion for reconsideration, the high court said, "The Court resolved to deny with finality the said motion for reconsideration as the basic issues raised therein have been passed upon by this Court and no substantial arguments were presented to warrant the reversal of the questioned decision."

 

The court said the evidence presented in the case "clearly failed" to establish probable cause against Lacson and the other accused.

 

"[T]hey should be insulated from the tribulations, expenses and anxiety of a public trial," the high court said.

 

In her ruling, Yadao noticed that witness Senior Inspector Abelardo Ramos issued conflicting statements before her court and the Office of the Ombudsman, which originally heard the case before it got transferred to the Quezon City RTC Branch 81.

 

In his testimony before the Ombudsman, Ramos said he was not present during the arrest of Kuratong Baleleng gang members in Parañaque City and the succeeding shootout in Quezon City. He said he was in Bulacan on the day of the shooting and was at his home the following day.

 

In his separate testimony with the Quezon City court, however, Ramos reversed his story and said he belonged to the team that both arrested and "executed the plan to gun down" the Kuratong Baleleng gang members.

 

The case involved the supposed "shootout" between police authorities and members of the Kuratong Baleleng crime syndicate in May 1995 along Commonwealth Avenue. Relatives of the victims claimed the incident was a "rubout."

 

The suspected gang members were apprehended inside their supposed "safe house" inside Superville Subdivision in Parañaque City on May 17, 1995. The following day, the suspects were brought to Camp Crame in Quezon City before being brought to Commonwealth Avenue where the alleged shootout happened.

 

Lacson at that time was a police chief superintendent and head of Task Force Habagat, one of the police units involved in the case.

 

Apart from Lacson, also absolved in the SC ruling penned by Associate Justice Roberto Abad were police officers Jewel Canson, Francisco G. Zubia Jr, Michael Ray Aquino, Cezar Mancao II, and Romeo Acop, and 28 other police elements and civilians.

 

Incidentally, Aquino and Mancao were Lacson's co-accused in a separate double murder case on the killings of publicist Salvador Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

 

Lacson had earlier been cleared both by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, while Aquino has recently been ordered released by a Manila court and is reportedly seeking reinstatement as a police officer. Mancao, meanwhile, remains an accused in the Dacer-Corbito case.

 

In its original ruling on the Kuratong Baleleng case, the high court noted how the prosecution "skipped" the Court of Appeals when it directly filed its petition for certiorari with the high court to question Judge Yadao's dismissal.

 

"[The prosecution] ignored the principle of judicial hierarchy of courts...  Although the Supreme Court, the CA, and the RTCs have concurrent jurisdiction to issue a writ of certiorari, such concurrence does not give the People the unrestricted freedom of choice of forum," the Supreme Court said.

 

The court, however, said it has decided to waive such "procedural lapses" given the "immense public interest" and the "considerable length of time" the case has taken since the crime happened.

 

"In the absence of probable cause to indict respondents for the crime of multiple murder, they should be insulated from the tribulations, expenses and anxiety of a public trial," the Supreme Court stressed. —KG, GMA News