CA clears ex-Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes in Gerry Ortega murder case

A division of the Court of Appeals has cleared former Palawan governor Joel Reyes of murder charges for the killing of environmentalist and broadcaster Gerardo "Gerry" Ortega in January 2011, citing procedural lapses on the part of the Department of Justice in investigating the case.

The decision came some four months after another CA division handed down a ruling junking similar charges against the former governor's co-accused and brother, Mayor Mario Reyes of Coron town in northern Palawan.

In its latest ruling penned by Associate Justice Angelita Gacutan, the CA Special 10th Division voted 3-2 to grant the petition for certiorari of ex-governor Reyes that sought to invalidate Justice Secretary Leila de Lima's Department Order 710, which created the second panel that reviewed and eventually found probable cause to indict the Reyes brothers for murder.

A DOJ panel headed by State Prosecutor Edwin Dayog had already cleared the Reyes brothers and four other suspects for insufficiency of evidence in a June 8, 2011 resolution.

On September 7, 2012, however, De Lima formed a new panel and re-opened the case through DO 710, which modified the first panel's resolution and implicated the Reyes brothers in the killing.

The Reyes brothers, who have repeatedly denied the accusation and said their political opponents were behind the charges, went into hiding when the second panel came out with its findings.

In the new ruling, the appeals court ordered the DOJ to reinstate the findings of its first panel that cleared the Reyes brothers. However, it remains unclear whether the ruling nullifies the warrants of arrest issued against them, which were based on the findings of the second panel.

The court said De Lima's creation of the second panel, as well as its findings that ran contrary to those of the first panel, caused disorder in what should have been an orderly procdure.

"Since at this precise moment this finding by the first panel of prosecutors has not yet been reversed, affirmed or modified by the Public Respondent Secretary of Justice, such finding is still valid. For all legal intents and purposes therefore, petitioner should not have been indicted for the crime of murder," the CA division said.

GMA News Online tried to reach De Lima for comment, but she did not respond to phone calls. As of posting time, there was also no statement yet from the Ortega family.

Second panel
 
In the re-investigation, the second panel considered additional evidence presented by Ortega's daughter Michaella, including documents containing supposed text messages between Joel Reyes and another suspect, Rodolfo Edrad Jr., from December 2010 to January 24, 2011, the day Ortega was killed. Another piece of evidence was a compact disc containing recordings of Ortega's radio commentaries against the ex-governor.

In its latest ruling, the CA said instead of forming a second panel of investigators, De Lima should have reviewed the case herself, something which she did not do in violation of the rules of procedure.

"Instead of doing so and in brazen disregard of the rules of procedure, she (De Lima) let the second panel of prosecutors run its course and ignored the pending petition for review ad cautelam filed by Patty Ortega (spouse of the victim) that was already on appeal before her. This is a clear showing of wanton disregard of the rules of procedure and applicable jurisprudence," the CA said.

"She should have acted on the petition for review ad cautelam (Latin for "as a precaution") filed by private respondent and should not have allowed the second panel of prosecutors to proceed on its task considering further that the promulgation of Department Order No. 710 is legally infirmed to begin with," the ruling said.

The CA said the prosecutors from the second panel exceeded their authority when they assessed the additional evidence submitted to the DOJ and modified the findings of the first panel.

Aside from Justice Gacutan, other justices who concurred in the ruling are Magistrates Fernanda Lampas-Peralta and Francisco Acosta. Those who dissented were Justices Noel Tijam and Romeo Barza.

The Reyes brothers allegedly slipped out of the country in March 2012, a few days before arrest warrants were issued against them. The two reportedly flew to Vietnam, with Joel Reyes supposedly using a fake passport under the name "Joseph Lim Pe."

In August, President Benigno Aquino IIIl issued a directive raising the reward for the "Big Five Fugitives" -- a list of suspects implicated in high-profile murder crimes -- that includes the Reyes brothers.

Mario Reyes ruling

In an earlier ruling clearing Joel's brother Mario, the CA's Special Fifth Division favored a petition filed by Mario questioning the decision of the second DOJ panel to indict them despite the ruling of the first panel clearing them. The CA said the second DOJ panel has no authority to modify the resolution of the first panel.
 
"We see grave abuse of discretion on the part of the DO-710 Panel when it exceeded the authority vested upon it by the Secretary of Justice which was just to assess the admissibility of the additional evidence submitted during the re-investigation, but issued a resolution modifying the resolution of the original (co-equal) Investigating Panel, which it did not have authority to, as the same rests exclusively with the Secretary of Justice," it said on a November 22, 2012 ruling.
 
The court reminded De Lima to act only within her jurisdiction: "It behooves upon the Secretary of Justice to adhere to the Rules of Procedure the DOJ promulgated for orderly and effective administration of justice otherwise the vast power of the Secretary of Justice would be susceptible to abuse. Scary!!"
 
"As the creation of of DO-710 Panel was tainted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction, the same is hereby declared null and void," the court added.
 
The CA also said: "The creation of the DO-710 Panel being null and void, the Resolution dated 12 March 2012 is set aside and nullified." — LBG, GMA News