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The families of 11 slain members of the Kuratong
Baleleng gang on Friday called on the Supreme Court to immediately
act on their petition to reopen a multiple-murder case they filed
against officers and men of the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime
Commission.
The gang was a reputed
organized-crime syndicate that specialized in bank robbery.
The 11 gang members were killed
in an alleged shootout with agents of the presidential
commission’s Task Force Habagat on May 19, 1995, in Quezon City.
The task force was then headed by
former Philippine National Police chief and now opposition Senator
Panfilo Lacson, who was charged, along with 33 other police
officials, with multiple murder.
Any further delay in the
resolution of the case will betray the Supreme Court’s “renewed
commitment” in issuing writs of amparo, habeas data and habeas
corpus to stop the continued rise in extrajudicial killings in the
country, said Arno Sanidad, a lawyer for the families. The Kuratong
Baleleng gang members were alleged to have been murdered in cold
blood.
Sanidad and three other lawyers
for the prosecution—Teddy Te, Jose Manuel Diokno and Christian
Lim—represent the relatives of the victims.
They said the relatives of the
slain gang members have obtained new pieces of evidence, including
eyewitness accounts that many of the accused acted in conspiracy to
intimidate them into signing affidavits of desistance to secure
dismissal of the multiple-murder case then pending before Judge
Wenceslao Agnir.
Sanidad said the Office of the
Solicitor-General and the Department of Justice have considered the
new pieces of evidence as sufficient to secure the conviction of
Lacson and the other police officials.
He added that the eyewitnesses
spoke of the planning and the execution of the arrest of the 11 gang
members and the direct order given by Chief Supt. Jewel Canson to
“rub out” the Kuratong Baleleng men. At the time, Canson was the
highest-ranking officer responsible for the operation. He was then
also chief of the National Capital Region Command.
Sanidad said the eyewitnesses
claimed that Canson’s direct order was then relayed to Chief Supt.
Romeo Acop, Senior Supt. Francisco Zubia and Lacson, then Task Force
Habagat chief.
The families filed their petition
for the reopening of the case in 2004. The High Tribunal earlier
deferred action on the motion. In a resolution, it “noted” the
criminal case. A “noted” resolution means that the Supreme Court
sees no immediate need to resolve the case.
In October 2003, the Supreme
Court remanded the multiple-murder case to Judge Ma. Theresa de la
Torres-Yadao of Branch 81 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
That court, however, dismissed the criminal case for lack of
probable cause.
The prosecution then asked the
High Tribunal to remand the case to the trial court before which it
will present new evidence against Lacson and the police officials.
In a resolution promulgated in
April 23, the Supreme Court en banc also noted a second motion to
resolve the multiple-murder case filed by Perfecto and Myrna Abalora,
parents of one of the 11 slain members of the syndicate.
--William B. Depasupil And Ruben D. Manahan 4th
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