DRUG CASE FIXERS OPERATING AT DOJ

Two questions bothered the Supreme Court justices when they met en
banc last Dec. 10. Who leaked their signed but unreleased vote to
unseat Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Sy Limkaichong for not being
Filipino-born? Did a petitioner against the lawmaker act in contempt
in publicly ranting when the Chief Justice halted the ouster? A team
of three most senior justices was formed to investigate the
unauthorized issuance of the ponencia penned by Justice Ruben Reyes.
The Court also ordered one Louis Biraogo to defend himself from
penalty for imputing malice on Chief Justice Reynato Puno's actions.

Probing Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares Santiago and
Antonio Carpio met thrice during the holidays. Called to testify,
Reyes and staff denied being leak sources. Court spokesman Midas
Marquez also told how he got from a reporter a copy of Biraogo's
biting letter against Puno after a press conference. The inquiry
result will soon be submitted to the en banc.

Biraogo, in complying with the Court order, sought to turn the tables
on it. Allegedly a "concerned (SC) employee" sent him a copy of
Reyes's ponencia last Oct. It was through no fault of his that the
anonymous source gave the papers, he insisted. At any rate, he found
out that in the en banc of July 15 the Court unanimously had ruled
that Limkaichong is a naturalized citizen, thus ineligible for Congress.

All justices, except Puno, had signed. As a law student once, Biraogo
said he assumed that the vote was made on careful study and
conscience. Too, that they cannot withdraw their signature after
affixing it. So he was dismayed to learn that Puno had stopped the
release of the decision on grounds that seven of the justices
concurred only "in the result." The phrase meant they agreed with the
verdict but not the ponente's arguments, so Puno had remarked that
they'd be ousting a sitting legislator based on a ponencia with no
doctrinal value. Biraogo cited big issues that the justices had deemed
unconstitutional by slim margins. Why require doctrinal value now for
Limkaichong, when it was not obliged before, he said of the seeming
"special treatment". Biraogo also called irregular the holding of oral
arguments on the case in Aug. after the justices already had made a
verdict. He said that since the 14 already had signed, the document
next went to the Office of the Chief Justice, so that could only be
where the leak came from. He was saying all this in public under the
right of free speech because he had no other recourse, he argued.

The Court maintains, though, that the vote to withhold promulgation
was unanimous as well, on July 15, when Puno pointed out the doctrinal
flaw. Carpio then volunteered to write his "Reflections" on Reyes's
ponencia, from which arose on July 22 yet another unanimous vote
belatedly to hold oral arguments. The en banc will discuss Biraogo's
defense tomorrow.

Reyes has since retired. Supposedly a plot is brewing in the House of
Reps to impeach Puno. A report linked to the plot ex-congressman
Jacinto Paras, an admin stalwart whose wife Limkaichong had defeated
in the last election. While Paras denies knowledge of it, the
anti-Puno move is led allegedly by pols who want a friendly Chief
Justice during and after Gloria Arroyo's last months in office.
There's talk that Limkaichong's ouster could affect her Sy family's
vast landholdings in the Visayas. Too, that justices during the oral
arguments leaned towards remanding the case to the House of Reps
Electoral Tribunal.

These items, plus the leak and contempt rap, detract from the main
issue, however: is Limkaichong unqualified, as 14 justices originally
had ruled?

The Department of Justice's rush to dismiss the "Alabang boys" drug
trafficking case is not isolated. An abscbnNEWS.com story run by The
STAR yesterday listed many other cases dropped due to "illegal attest"
or "lack of evidence":

. Shabu lab in Naguilian, La Union, raided July 9, 2008, six
truckloads of evidence gathered, case dismissed Nov. 12, 2008;

. Shabu factory in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, raided Oct. 30, 2007, Chinese,
Singaporeans and Malaysians arrested, dismissed Jan. 10, 2008;

. Subic shabu transshipment, discovered May 25, 2008, more than 300
kilos of shabu in 75 boxes worth P4.62 billion seized, dismissed Aug.
27, 2008;

. Shabu lab in Calumpit, Bulacan, raided Dec. 22, 2006, three Chinese
arrested with help of Beijing authorities, dismissed Nov. 23, 2007;

. Makati City buy-bust of Feb. 22, 2008, 200 Ecstasy tablets seized,
dismissed June 16, 2008.

There's also jailed Chinese drug lord Lucky Ong in Zamboanga City. Ong
was already being tried for five months when DOJ Sec. Raul Gonzalez
ordered him dropped from the charge sheet on Oct. 23, 2008. Again the
excuses were "wrong arrest" and "insufficient evidence", which at that
point was already for the judge to determine.

There's a third usual but unspoken reason for the rash of dismissals:
case fixing by "Mike Muslim" and "Atty. Alex Tan". They were named in
a recent STAR report as fixers maneuvering to get the three "Alabang
boys" drug trafficking suspects released. On questioning by
congressmen, NBI chief Nestor Mantaring said he would ask around if
DOJ personnel know them. But of course they do; it's an open secret at
the DOJ: the two fixers have been at it since June 2004.

Recently they tried to get junked a buy-bust case in Carmona, Cavite.
Before that they tried to get reversed the charges against the
operator of the Pasig shabu tiangge.