[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’‘JUST DOING OUR JOB’
Odicta lawyer harassed agents – PDEA exec ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MERIANNE GRACE EREÑETA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) official assured the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) that the agency has nothing against the Odicta family lawyer they arrested on Thursday.
But handcuffing Atty. Marbhen Lumbo during the raid of the Odicta residence was the right thing to do, Deputy Regional Director Levi Ortiz said Friday, Dec. 9.
“Ito lang ang masasabi namin sa IBP: We are just doing our job,” Ortiz told Panay News. “We know our limitations, and we do not have anything against the lawyer (Lumbo).”
Lumbo, a member of the IBP Iloilo, questioned the PDEA agents for seizing several items not indicated in their search warrant, including a joint passbook of the slain suspected drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. and wife Meriam.
For this, the lawyer was arrested for alleged obstruction of justice. He was released hours later.
“He (Lumbo) should not decide on his own. Only the prosecutor or the judge can rule whether the things we confiscated were valid or invalid,” said Ortiz. “Dapat pinabayaan niya kami na i-submit sa court iyong (na-confiscate).”
Lumbo denied obstructing the operation.
“Their search warrant included drugs and firearms. Ngaa asta iban nga wala nabutang sa search warrant ginpangdala nila? Amo lang na gina-question ko sa ila, but they arrested and handcuffed me,” he said.
Other items seized from the Odictas’ house in Barangay Malipayon, City Proper on Thursday were 19 sachets of shabu; P300,000 cash; a .40-caliber pistol with ammunition; a grenade; a shotgun from Odicta residence security guard Elemio Dumalogdog; a .22-caliber revolver; a handheld radio; and bank checks.
Ortiz said the passbook will be used in the investigation for suspected money laundering.
“Baka may hidden wealth na galing sa ilegal na droga,” he said. “We should confiscate the money kasi ano ba iyong commodities na ginagamit sa illegal drug trade? Money at alahas.”
Ortiz also accused Lumbo of intimidating the operatives.
“Sabi niya, ‘Oy, oy, bakit ganoon, ano iyan, ha?’” said Ortiz “He harassed the searcher kasi bago iyong searcher, galing academy pa iyan. Natakot iyong bata.”
Ortiz said the PDEA will file an obstruction of justice charge against Lumbo at the City Prosecutor’s Office.
Lumbo will file a case, too, against the agency. “But (I) have yet to decide what case to file,” he said in a radio interview.
Hours after the 4 a.m. raid on Thursday, the IBP issued a statement expressing alarm over “the increasing duress employed by law enforcement agents against the rule of law.”
“It is a lawyer’s sworn duty, as an officer of the Court, to employ all available legal remedies to protect the interests of his client…,” read part of the statement signed by Atty. Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo, governor of IBP Western Visayas.
“An empowering sense of personal security among lawyers is a core component of the rule of law,” the IBP said. “If at all, Atty. Lumbo must be lauded for insisting, in the face of overwhelming force, that Constitutional safeguards be strictly observed in the service of a search warrant against his client.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
