MANILA, Philippines – Former police chief General Oscar Albayalde said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra does not have the authority to reopen a previously dismissed case of the so-called Pampanga ninja cops, in which the ex-top cop has been belatedly included for alleged mishandling of drugs and falsifying documents.

“The Honorable Department of Justice (DOJ) does not have jurisdiction to reopen the investigation,” Albayalde said in his 35-page counter-affidavit submitted to the DOJ on Tuesday, November 5.

It was Guevarra who ordered the reopening of the case through Department Order No. 528 signed October 7, citing the 2000 National Prosecution Service (NPS) Rules on Appeals “which authorizes the Secretary of Justice to order the conduct of a reinvestigation of cases whenever deemed necessary.”

The case was for violations of Sections 27 (misappropriation), 29 (planting), and 32 (custody and disposition) of the Dangerous Drugs Act filed in March 2014 against the 13 cops of a Pampanga buy-bust team, who are being accused of not turning over all of the drugs seized for purposes of recycling or for personal benefit.

In October 2014, Assistant State Prosecutor Xerxes Garcia dismissed the complaint. In 2017, Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Amor Robles and Acting Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan affirmed the dismissal, afterwhich it went to the Secretary of Justice for automatic review, which is pursuant to rules.

Albayalde cited the 2017 Revised Manual for Prosecutors in questioning Guevarra’s Department Order.

“As provided under the Revised Manual for Prosecutors, a preliminary investigation may be reopened only when the investigation is submitted for resolution but before the approval and promulgation of said resolution,” said Albayalde.

But the same revised manual says the “Secretary of Justice may order the reinvestigation of a case upon motion filed by the interested party or upon appeal or petition for review of the resolution of the Chief State/City/Provincial Prosecutor.”

Guevarra has not yet responded to Rappler’s question whether the required motions were filed when he ordered the reinvestigation.

In his own counter-affidavit, one of the main accused, Police Major Rodney Baloyo IV, said that the case should be “dismissed outright” because it has already been dismissed twice, in 2014 and 2017.

“I see no plausible and logical reason for the unprocedural and unexpected resurrection of the present case other than the political pressure and widely publicized clamor for its revival,” said Baloyo.

Alleged drug lord Peter Lim complained of the same when former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered a reinvestigation even after prosecutors cleared him of the charges. The Supreme Court denied Lim’s petition in September 2018 and effectively allowed the charges to continue.

Aquino, Lacadin ‘fabricated’ testimony

Albayalde was dragged to the complaint which did not initially include him because of explosive testimonies at the Senate by drug chief Aaron Aquino and former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) deputy director Rudy Lacadin.

Aquino said Albayalde called him not to implement the dismissal orders against the members of the buy-bust team. Albayalde was Pampanga police chief when the buy-bust happened, and the call to Aquino supposedly happened when Albayalde was already Metro Manila police chief and Aquino was regional director of Central Luzon police.

Lacadin, for his part, said Albayalde called to tell him: “Actually sir, konti lang naman napunta sa’kin diyan (Actually sir, I only got little from that).'”

Albayalde called these “fabrications.”

“The fact that General Aquino and General Lacadin only came up with these fabrications 6 years after the fact militates strongly against their truthfulness. Why would these honorable individuals wait 6 long years to come out with this story?” Alabayalde said.

Saying that Aquino and Lacadin were his upperclassmen at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Albayalde said it would be unbelievable for him to make the alleged calls and requests.

“Any rational and unbiased individual with even a casual familiarity with the concept of seniority in an organization such as the PMA would know that it is simply taboo and against human experience to be asking an upperclassman for a favor, much less something so brazenly illegal,” said Albayalde.

Guevarra gave the new prosecution panel only 30 days to resolve the reinvestigation. Summons were sent on October 10 and the first hearing of the reinvestigation took place on October 21. – Rappler.com