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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
THE Department of Justice on
Friday absolved Mayor Michael Fariñas of Laoag City of murder
charges after having been tagged as the mastermind in the killing of
Vice-Mayor Jimmy Chua.
In a seven-page resolution of
Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez, he dismissed the petition for
review filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) asking
Gonzalez to reverse the findings of the prosecutors who also
exonerated Fariñas in the case.
Gonzalez said that there was no
evidence that would indict Fariñas for the killing of Chua, because
there was no error in the findings of the DOJ prosecutors in the
preliminary investigation.
State Prosecutor Cielitolindo
Luyun was the lead prosecutor who dismissed the case against Fariñas,
which was approved by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño.
Gonzalez also set aside the
testimony of witness Melvin de la Cuesta implicating Fariñas in the
killing.
He said that the inconsistencies
in the testimony of de la Cuesta weakened the case of against Fariñas.
“It cannot be denied that the
circumstances … strongly indicate that four supplemental sworn
statements of de la Cuesta, upon which the complaint was solely
dependent, was made under the influence of duress and
intimidation,” the ruling said.
Chua was killed on February 1,
2005, in a restaurant in Laoag City during Fariñas’ birthday
celebration.
De la Cuesta identified the
gunman only as “Steve,” but later recanted his statement.
The department argued that
“these circumstances under which the fourth supplemental sworn
statement was executed, render it unreliable and deserved scant
consideration as it stands discredited in the eyes of the law and
deemed to have never existed.”
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