THE Department of Justice (DPJ) yesterday denied the plea of suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. asking the prosecution panel to inhibit from handling the preliminary investigation into the complaint against him in connection with the March 4 attack that killed Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo.
Lawyer Andres Manuel, who is part of the lawmaker’s defense team, said the prosecution panel announced their decision to deny the lawmaker’s bid during the resumption of the preliminary investigation on Tuesday.
“Dineny po ng panel ‘yung motion for inhibition dahil po sa kanila, sila as a panel, they act independently (The panel denied our motion for inhibition because, according to them, they act independently as a panel),” Manuel told reporters in a chance interview following the hearing.
Manuel said the defense team has asked the prosecution panel to put the decision in writing and to state in the reason why Teves’ motion was rejected so they can plan their next move.
‘Kung gusto namin mag-file ng (If we want to file a) motion for reconsideration, we may do so or we may want to elevate it higher, which we can do also,” he added.
But Manuel said he told the panel that Teves’ motion was not only directed at the prosecution panel but at the whole DOJ, which, the lawmaker “thinks is no longer fair and impartial.”
To recall, Teves’ camp submitted a 14-page urgent motion to inhibit arguing that the media statements of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has allegedly already prejudged the lawmaker’s guilt and violated his right to due process.
“Unfortunately, in this case, no prosecutor under the Department of Justice can confidently and honestly say that they can resolve this preliminary investigation with fairness, impartiality, independence, and integrity as demanded by law and jurisprudence,” the urgent motion filed last week read.
“This is primarily because their boss, the Secretary of Justice, has been firm in claiming that Teves Jr. is the mastermind in the death of Gov. Degamo, even prior to the filing of this case,” it added.
It said that even before the National Bureau of Investigation concluded its probe into Degamo’s killing, Remulla has already said that the suspended lawmaker was guilty even without affording him the chance to rebut his accusations.
Teves said he was also deprived of fairness after the DOJ chief “displayed sympathy and affection” for Degamo’s widow, Pamplona town Mayor Janice Degamo.
Pointing to these as proof that the DOJ is not an impartial tribunal, Teves asked that the preliminary investigation be handled instead by the Office of the Ombudsman.
Degamo’s widow, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, said the decision of the prosecution panel to dismiss the motion was only right, adding that the prosecutors are just doing their job.
“Dapat rin lang kasi na i-deny kasi mga propesyunal naman ang mga prosecutors (It is only right that it was denied as the prosecutors are very professional in doing their job). They know what they are doing. Pinag-aralan nila ‘yan kung ano ang magiging outcome ng kanilang hinahawakan at binabasa nila ang mga documents coming from all parties (They are studying the possible outcome of the complaints and they are reading the documents coming from all parties),” Degamo told reporters.
She said that though they would prefer for the case to go faster, it cannot be denied that the case is progressing even as she appealed to the public not to lose interest in the case.
The DOJ set the next hearings on July 3 and 17.
