BY JP LOPEZ

SENATE President pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada yesterday called for the dismissal of Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor and the disbarment of the lawyer of two of three drug suspects for trying to mislead Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez into signing an order for the release of the alleged drug pushers.

Estrada said lawyer Felisberto Verano should be disbarred for unethical practice. Blancaflor, he said, is liable for allowing his office and secretary to be used by Verano to mislead the justice secretary.

Estrada also called for the filing of administrative charges against Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo, and State Prosecutor John Resado for disregarding a department memorandum order against unauthorized release of suspects.  

At the House, Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Lakas, Cebu), vice chair of the House committee on dangerous drugs, asked Gonzalez to sack Resado and Kimpo for allegedly being remiss in their duties.

Rep. Roilo Golez (Ind., Parañaque) said Resado and Kimpo should be fired for telling the House committee that the three suspects may be released pending the DoJ’s automatic review of the resolution dismissing the charges, as provided for by Memorandum Circular No. 46. 

The House started on Tuesday its inquiry into the controversy involving Verano’s clients Richard Brodett and Joseph Tecson, and Jorge Joseph who were arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in buy-bust operations in September last year.

Sen. Francis Escudero vowed to open a probe on the matter when session resumes on January 19.

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said his panel would focus on corruption in the justice system, which surfaced amid allegations of bribery in the Department of Justice and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Blancaflor’s name was dragged into the controversy last week when Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, head of PDEA’s Special Enforcement Service, said Blancaflor called him up last month to follow up on the case of the three suspected pushers.

Estrada said Verano should be disbarred for drafting a release order for his client and the two other suspects, and for smuggling the draft document into Gonzalez’ office for signing.  

Verano admitted at the House hearing Wednesday that he used a letterhead of the justice department and drafted the release order for Gonzalez’ signature.  

He said he sent the draft release order to Blancaflor’s office, and asked Blancaflor’s secretary Janet Payoyo to bring the document to Gonzalez’ office.

The controversy started after the state prosecutors issued a resolution dismissing the drug trafficking charges filed by PDEA against the three.

PDEA agents arrested Brodett and Joseph in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City, while Tecson was nabbed at the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City on Sept. 20, 2008. Seized from the suspects were Ecstacy tablets, cocaine and dried marijuana leaves.

Estrada said Zuño, Kimpo and Resado should be held liable for violating memorandum No. 46, issued by then Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong, on the automatic review by the justice secretary of prosecutors’ decisions in drug and smuggling cases.

Zuño even clarified at the House hearing that the prosecutors are not disregarding the Datumanong order but said "we just have a different interpretation of it."  

"These lawyers are playing around with justice and are acting like hoodlums in barong Tagalog," Estrada said.  

He said the justice department should help government law enforcement agencies fight drug trafficking and other illegal activities.

"Some officials and prosecutors of the Department of Justice are apparently favoring criminal suspects maybe after they receive bribes to look the other way around," he said.

PDEA has not released the three suspects despite the dismissal of the charges by Resado, a former law student of Verano at the Far Eastern University.

Kimpo, a senior state prosecutor, reviewed Resado’s resolution which was later upheld by Zuño. 

The Volunteers against Crime and Corruption, an organization advocating victims’ rights and uprightness in the justice system, filed a disbarment case against Verano before the Supreme Court.

The VACC said Verano should be held liable for "acts highly irregular and extremely unethical that he displayed in connection with the drug case of the so-called Alabang Boys where he is the private counsel for (two of) the accused."

Verano, in previous interviews, said he was forced to draft the release order after Gonzalez raised his hope that he would sign it. He said he dug into his old files to get a DOJ letterhead.

When his request with Gonzalez remained unacted upon, he turned to Blancaflor for help.

Gonzalez said he has directed the NBI to determine how Verano managed to secure a DOJ letterhead.

He said Verano’s alibi that the letterhead was given to him for use as scratch paper during one of his visits in the justice department was unacceptable.

"That is what I am trying to trace now. It could have come from the office of Blancaflor; it could have come from the prosecutors," Gonzalez said. – With Wendell Vigilia and Evangeline de Vera