LEGAL NOTE 0045 – THE PESCANO CASE. ADDENDUM TO THE NOTE ON THE IMPEACHMENT OF OMBUDSMAN MERCEDITAS N. GUTIERREZ.
SOURCE: VIEWPOINT – Spotless hands
By Juan Mercado
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 06:33:00 03/22/2011 Filed Under: Impeachment, Military, Graft & Corruption
EXCERPT: THE PESTANO CASE:
Despite threats, 24-year-old Pestaño bucked loading 14,000 board feet of “hot” logs, shabu and guns aboard BRP Bacolod where he served as cargo master. His body, bearing gunshot wounds, was discovered in his cabin.
Suicide, ruled the Navy within 24 hours. The NBI waffled. No, Senate Report No. 800 bluntly countered. Pestaño was bludgeoned, shot to death, and his body rigged to appear he took his life, wrote Sen. Marcelo Fernan.
EXCERPT: OTHERS WERE ALSO KILLED OR DISAPPEARED
Among the desaparecidos is Zosimo Villanueva of Tawi-Tawi naval station. He tipped Pestaño on the hot logs and shabu. He was “lost at sea while on a mission.” The UN says, “Foul play is suspected.”
Bacolod City’s radio operator Fidel Tagaytay was ordered to report to Navy headquarters, says his wife Leonila. He too disappeared. There has been “no action/investigation by the Navy,” the UN snapped.
Ensign Alvin Farone was aboard the Bacolod when Pestaño was slain. He contacted Marissa, Pestaño’s sister, saying he wanted “to tell what really happened to Phillip.” A long silence followed. He died. And dead men tell no tales?
WHAT DID THE UN COMMISSION SAY?
For years, the ombudsman pooh-poohed Senate Report No. 800, Raul Pangalangan wrote in the Inquirer. But that precisely was the document the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva relied on. Here is the UP law professor’s concise summary:
“Close to 15 years elapsed since the death of the victim, the [parents] are still ignorant of the circumstances surrounding their son’s death, and [Philippine] authorities have yet to initiate an independent investigation.
“[T]he Ombudsman deemed it necessary to conduct further proceedings in [August 2007]. Since that date, no suspect was prosecuted, or tried, let alone convicted… The [Philippines is in] breach of its obligation … to properly investigate the death of [Philip], prosecute perpetrators, and ensure redress.”
EXCERPT: WHAT DID VIEWPOINT SAY?
“They were faceless, powerless enlisted men,” Viewpoint noted on Sept. 13, 2010. “They were like trees, felled in the forest. No one sees. No one knows. No one cares. Perhaps, impeachment may spark a glimmer of hope. Perhaps.”
FULL ARTICLE
WILL CONGRESS ram through Resolution 1089 and lob it to the Senate? The resolution impeaches Merceditas Gutierrez for “betrayal of public trust.” On the eve of a plenary vote, a once-foregone conclusion turned problematic.
Gutierrez embalmed cases like those of the euro generals and Mega Pacific computers, says the rap sheet. But Iglesia ni Cristo officials covertly badgered congressmen to spring Gutierrez, House justice committee chair Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. fumes. Bogus text messages threaten pork barrel cuts.
“The Ombudsman’s office … failed to act on any of 44 complaints alleging extrajudicial executions attributed to state agents,” UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Execution Philip Alston noted. “There is a passivity bordering on abdication of responsibility.”
Assuming the House doesn’t buckle, Gutierrez won’t be alone in the dock. With her will be a Senate still haunted by the “Craven Eleven” incident. That refers to the 11 senators who voted to seal the “second envelope” of evidence during the Joseph Estrada impeachment trial. This triggered People Power II.
“The Senate that will judge Merceditas is composed of ‘Craven Eleven’ remnants,” e-mailed Enrique Angeles from Buena Park, California. “These are Miriam Santiago, Juan Ponce Enrile, Gringo Honasan and Tito Sotto.”
“Big ticket items” like P728-million fertilizer mess and the $329-million NBN-ZTE scandal stoked intense interest. Do they bear fingerprints of former President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo and the former first gentleman as some insist?
Gutierrez thus finds in the same dock the invisible but felt presence of Arroyo and Consort. Hindi siya nag-iisa.
This battered country needs another marred impeachment process like a hole in the head. Gutierrez may not be “Ms Sunshine.” But she deserves a fair shake.
So do the complainants, like Felipe and Evelyn Pestaño. They have battled for 15 years to get justice for their murdered son Phillip, a Philippine Military Academy graduate.
Despite threats, 24-year-old Pestaño bucked loading 14,000 board feet of “hot” logs, shabu and guns aboard BRP Bacolod where he served as cargo master. His body, bearing gunshot wounds, was discovered in his cabin.
Suicide, ruled the Navy within 24 hours. The NBI waffled. No, Senate Report No. 800 bluntly countered. Pestaño was bludgeoned, shot to death, and his body rigged to appear he took his life, wrote Sen. Marcelo Fernan.
For years, the ombudsman pooh-poohed Senate Report No. 800, Raul Pangalangan wrote in the Inquirer. But that precisely was the document the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva relied on. Here is the UP law professor’s concise summary:
“Close to 15 years elapsed since the death of the victim, the [parents] are still ignorant of the circumstances surrounding their son’s death, and [Philippine] authorities have yet to initiate an independent investigation.
“[T]he Ombudsman deemed it necessary to conduct further proceedings in [August 2007]. Since that date, no suspect was prosecuted, or tried, let alone convicted… The [Philippines is in] breach of its obligation … to properly investigate the death of [Philip], prosecute perpetrators, and ensure redress.”
“Well, Gutierrez finally acted on the Pestaño plea,” Pangalangan wryly added. “She dismissed it. To add sting to the injury, she served her dismissal order on Pestaño’s parents the day after they signed the impeachment complaint against her.”
Space constraints probably didn’t allow the cerebral dean to amplify his statement: “The UN committee found that within four months of Pestaño’s death, three of his Navy comrades all died or disappeared in mysterious circumstances.”
May we stitch in details, drawn from the same UN report. A skewed justice system here results in a “voiceless legion of the walking dead (who) are no one’s constituency.”
Among the desaparecidos is Zosimo Villanueva of Tawi-Tawi naval station. He tipped Pestaño on the hot logs and shabu. He was “lost at sea while on a mission.” The UN says, “Foul play is suspected.”
Bacolod City’s radio operator Fidel Tagaytay was ordered to report to Navy headquarters, says his wife Leonila. He too disappeared. There has been “no action/investigation by the Navy,” the UN snapped.
Ensign Alvin Farone was aboard the Bacolod when Pestaño was slain. He contacted Marissa, Pestaño’s sister, saying he wanted “to tell what really happened to Phillip.” A long silence followed. He died. And dead men tell no tales?
The Pestaños claim that Farone’s demise was “suspicious. It should have been investigated.” Again, the Philippines didn’t even comment on this case.
“They were faceless, powerless enlisted men,” Viewpoint noted on Sept. 13, 2010. “They were like trees, felled in the forest. No one sees. No one knows. No one cares. Perhaps, impeachment may spark a glimmer of hope. Perhaps.”
Possible resource persons, meanwhile fidget. Former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo skipped town in 2005, hours before the Senate started its inquiry into fertilizer fraud to bankroll Arroyo’s election. Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante scrammed a year later.
The Senate blue ribbon committee, Commission on Audit and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism confirmed the fraud. So did thousands of farmers.
Deported after his US asylum petition was rejected, Bolante today blames Lorenzo who pledges to cooperate with the Aquino administration. Two former fugitives squealing before an impeachment court guarantees drama.
Will the judges have, as the Italians say, mani politi (clean hands)?
(E-mail: juanlmercado@gmail.com)
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