DIPOLOG CITY, Philippines – Local media practitioners from Zamboanga del Norte petitioned Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II to speed up the litigation of two broadcasters – Genesis Ajero and Ryan Uy – who were accused of drug pushing.
Their cases have been in court for 6 years.
In a letter addressed to Aguirre and dated August 15, at least 15 media practitioners signed the letter, saying, "We will respect whatever the decision of the court, and we respect the right of our colleagues to elevate their cases to higher courts if needed. What we cannot bear anymore is the apparent deliberate delay in the litigation."
In Ajero's case, the letter said he was arrested, committed to Dipolog City Jail, and arraigned in court in 2011. In the past 5years he has had 30 hearings, half of which were postponed.
The media practitioners here said the first series of postponements happened on February 9, March 8, May, July 19, and August 23 in 2012, caused by the non-appearance of the Philippine National Police chemist, who would testify on the authenticity of confiscated "shabu."
Two years after, 4 hearings were again postponed because of non-appearance of the Prosecutor's last witness, arresting officer PO2 June Guardi Reales.
At the hearing on August 24 last year, Reales was again not present, prompting the judge to warn the prosecution to produce its last witness. The judge also allowed two more resettings of the hearing.
Reales, however, continued to snub the court in subsequent hearings on November 23 and December 9 in 2015 and on April 27 and May 4 in 2016, two resettings more than what was allowed by the court.
Ajero was arrested by police and members of Team DAVID, Dipolog government's auxiliary police force, on September 3, 2011, while Uy was arrested a year earlier.
Both Ajero and Uy continued to reiterate innocence on the charges against them, claiming that evidences against them were planted.
They added they were victims of political vendetta because they were harsh critics of then Dipolog Mayor Evelyn T. Uy.
Ajero and Uy cited an investigation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after their arrest which said what happened to the broadcasters could be cases of "scenario operations," in which the arresting officers would come up with a scenario and would conduct operations according to the scenario created. – Rappler.com