[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=’ Iloilo, Aklan judges in Duterte drug list cleared’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MANILA – The Supreme Court cleared three judges, including two from Western Visayas, from involvement in illegal drugs. They were in the list of alleged drug protectors that President Rodrigo Duterte read in August.
There were no proofs offered to support the President’s allegation, according to Supreme Court spokesperson Atty. Theodore Te who announced the termination of the high court’s investigation on the judges.
The cleared judges were Adriano Savillo of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 13 in Iloilo City; Domingo Casiple Jr. of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 7 in Kalibo, Aklan; and Exequiel Dagala of the Municipal Trial Court in Dapa, Siargao.
“No evidence has been put forward to link the judges to (illegal) drugs,” said Te. “No prima facie case has been established against them, therefore terminating the fact-finding probe.”
Citing the result of the Supreme Court’s fact-finding investigation, Te lamented that the judges were “placed in danger, their reputations damaged by President Duterte’s premature announcement of their drug involvement.”
Duterte named four other judges in August but he also acknowledged that his information could be wrong and that he would take full responsibility for it. It later turned out that the other judges he named were either dead or nonexistent.
Days after Duterte linked the judges to illegal drugs, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes-Sereno asked the President about his source and basis. She also cautioned the seven judges “against surrendering or making themselves physically accountable to any police officer.”
In response, Duterte told Sereno not to interfere with his war against illegal drugs or he would declare martial law. He later apologized to Sereno for the threat.
According to Te, despite repeated pleas by the fact-finding body led by retired Associate Justice Roberto Abad, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency insisted that no witness was willing to come forward.
Citing the “grave public impact” of the President’s allegation, Te said, the high court deemed it proper to take this “extraordinary step” of investigating the judges.
In the end, the fact-finding body found no evidence “of any involvement in the use, trade or proliferation of illegal drugs” against Savillo, Casiple and Dagala, said Te.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said the President’s accusation was “not fully supported by evidence that were professionally validated and which could be presented in a court of law.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
