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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS
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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 233 -
IMPOSING THE PENALTY OF DISMISSAL FROM THE SERVICE OF PROVINCIAL
PROSECUTOR JUAN D. CEREZO OF TARLAC
This refers to the administrative complaint
for grave misconduct against Tarlac Provincial Prosecutor Juan D.
Cerezo who was entrapped on April 21, 1995 receiving P20,000.00 which
he demanded in exchange for the release of two (2) accused facing drug
charges.
On August 10, 1995, the Department of Justice formally charged
Prosecutor Cerezo with grave misconduct on the basis of the affidavit
of arrest of Police Inspector Joselito Dominguez, Supervising Officer
of the Tarlac Provincial Anti-Narcotics Office, 3NRFU, PNP NARCOM, and
the sworn statements of Editha Liego, Wil Fernando and Roberto Isip,
who are relatives of accused Rosendo Liego and Edgar Isip.
Police Insp. Dominguez testified that on April 12, 1995, his team
arrested Rosendo Liego and Edgar Isip for drugs. The two (2) were
detained at the Tarlac Provincial Jail and charged by Prosecutor Cerezo
in separate informations for illegal possession and sale of marijuana,
respectively. He later came to know that their relatives approached for
assistance Prosecutor Cerezo who assured them that the accused could be
released provided they pay him P10,000.00 for each accused as he would
prepare a motion for reinvestigation to be filed in court. Having known
the case of Julio Sicat who was then under detention for illegal
possession of "shabu" and from whom Prosecutor Cerezo also demanded
P10,000.00, he planned to set entrapment on said prosecutor. Sicat had
confided to him that he would soon be released in consideration of
P10,000.00 demanded by Prosecutor Cerezo who would prepare his motion
for reinvestigation. He succeeded in convincing the three (3) relatives
of accused Liego and Isip to cooperate in the plan of entrapment.
Editha Liego, Wil Fernando and Roberto Isip affirmed the allegations in
their sworn statements. At around 10:00 a.m. of April 21, 1995, they
proceeded to the Office of the Prosecutor Cerezo supposedly to bring
the P20,000.00 and sign the motion for reinvestigation. What was
prepared instead was an Urgent Motion for Preliminary Investigation and
Reduction of Bail which Roberto Isip and Editha Liego were made to
sign. When Prosecutor Cerezo asked for the money, Wil Fernando placed
the two (2) air mail envelopes containing the money inserted in a
newspaper as previously instructed by Prosecutor Cerezo on top of the
table but he pulled out the newspaper leaving the envelopes on the
table. After confirming secretly from Wil Fernando that the money had
already been given, Roberto Isip stepped out and gave the signal to
Pol. Insp. Dominguez who, together with his men, rushed inside the room
and arrested Prosecutor Cerezo whose hands were later found positive
for the presence of ultra-violet powder.
Prosecutor Cerezo and his witnesses did not appear during the
investigation but his answer, counter-affidavit and supplemental
counter-affidavit were submitted by his counsel who waived the
cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses. Prosecutor Cerezo
denied demanding P20,000.00 in consideration for the release of accused
Isip and Liego. He told their relatives who sought his help that since
the case was already filed in court, what they could do was file a
motion for preliminary investigation and reduction of bail. He admitted
assisting them in the preparation of said motion, the accused having
the right to preliminary investigation since only an inquest was
performed and also to ask for reduction of their bail. After Roberto
Isip and Editha Liego had signed the prepared motion to which he also
affixed his signature for his conformity, he was arrested. He denied
that the money was handed to him but it was merely placed on his table.
Perlita Maliwat, witness for Prosecutor Cerezo and member of his staff,
executed an affidavit corroborating Prosecutor Cerezo's allegations.
She admitted having prepared the motion for preliminary investigation
and reduction of bail patterned after a standard format as instructed
by Prosecutor Cerezo. After said motion was signed by Editha Liego and
Roberto Isip and by Prosecutor Cerezo for his conformity, the person
seated in front of the Prosecutor placed an envelope from a folded
newspaper on top of the table. Thereafter, three (3) persons barged
inside the room and one of them picked up the envelope and told the
Prosecutor, "You are under arrest."
Prosecutor Cerezo also set up the defense that he was framed-up by Pol.
Insp. Dominguez and Tarlac Mayor Manalang as he had filed against the
latter a civil case in behalf of the Tarlac Market Vendors Cooperative
on April 20, 1995. He submitted the affidavit of one Rolando Gonzales
who claimed to have overheard one Minong Trinidad during a fiesta
celebration comment that his entrapment and arrest were planned by
Mayor Manalang.
The Department of Justice gave credence to the testimony of Pol. Insp
Dominguez who is presumed to have regularly performed his duty as a law
enforcer there being no convincing proof to the contrary, as well as
those of Editha Liego, Wil Fernando and Roberto Isip in the absence of
clear evidence of improper motive on their part. It discredited the
weak and unsubstantiated defenses of the Prosecutor. It found that the
preparation of the motion for preliminary investigation and reduction
of bail by Prosecutor Cerezo was clearly a procedural scheme or design
to effect the release of the two (2) accused from detention, at least
provisionally, in consideration of P10,000.00 each. The surrounding
circumstances would show the manifestly anomalous and irregular acts of
Prosecutor Cerezo. Records reveal that he filed the separate
informations for violations of the Dangerous Drugs Act against Julio
Sicat, Edgar Isip and Rosendo Liego, recommending bail of P60,000.00
each and subsequently prepared their motions either for reinvestigation
or preliminary investigation and reduction of bail from P60,000.00 to
P10,000.00, signing his conformity thereto which, from all indications
are intended for him to exact P10,000.00 from each accused in
consideration for their release. In the case of Julio Sicat, Prosecutor
Cerezo signed the information stating that there was preliminary
investigation conducted, yet the motion for reinvestigation which he
prepared invoked the ground of lack of preliminary investigation. As a
consequence thereof, the Court issued an order recalling the warrant of
arrest against Sicat citing the conformity of Prosecutor Cerezo and
pursuant thereto, the latter immediately issued the release order for
Sicat.
The Department of Justice concluded that there appears a pattern of
action, a form of modus operandi practiced by Prosecutor Cerezo to
release accused persons in drug cases for monetary consideration after
he himself had charged them in court. This he did by way of motions for
reinvestigation, reduction of bail, etc., he prepared for the accused.
Based on the evidence on record, the Department of Justice found a
clear case of grave misconduct committed by Prosecutor Cerezo and
recommended his dismissal from the service with forfeiture of all
benefits.
I concur in the findings and recommendation of the Secretary of Justice.
Prosecutor Cerezo clearly violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices
Act and further committed acts detrimental to the successful and
expeditious prosecution of drug offenses. His actuations betrayed his
brazen disregard of a prosecutor's important task in the prosecution of
drug offenses considering the menace of drugs and their pernicious
effects to the public and society. For such grave misconduct he should
be meted the penalty of dismissal from the service.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, Provincial Prosecutor Juan D. Cerezo of
Tarlac is hereby dismissed from the service for grave misconduct with
forfeiture of all benefits under the law. His dismissal shall take
effect after fifteen (15) days following his receipt of a copy of this
Order.
DONE in the City of Manila,
this 13th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred
and Ninety-Five.
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