Tupas urges justice chief to relieve provincial fiscal
Former Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. has urged Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to conduct an investigation on Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor Bernabe Dusaban on the grounds of “gross incompetence, ignorance of the law and blatant disregard of truth and fairness” and subsequently relieve him from his post, a report of the Philippine News Agency said.
Accompanied by his son, Iloilo 5th district Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. who also chairs the House committee on justice, the former governor handed his two-page letter request to De Lima, calling for the investigation which he said “is a matter of urgency that should have been addressed long ago.”
“Any effort at bringing genuine reform at the DOJ will not be complete without looking into these issues,” he said.
Tupas in his letter-appeal cited Dusaban’s dismissal of the case filed against the “Balasan Boys” engaged in illegal drugs likewise his “staunch refusal to prosecute cases against bet collectors of the Small Town Lottery despite the absence of a Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution allowing its activities in the province” as pieces of evidence for his “incompetence and ignorance of the law.”
Further, Tupas underscored that “Dusaban has refused for a long time, to file a case for murder against the suspected mastermind, Vicente Espinosa,” in the assassination of the former vice mayor of Ajuy, Ramon Rojas Jr. in May 2008.
“The family of the murder victim is crying for justice, but Dusaban keeps turning a deaf ear on such plea. The case was brought to the DOJ on a petition for review, and eventually, he was ordered to include Espinosa as a principal accused,” he said.
“These abuses have badly eroded the public’s trust and faith in the Iloilo Prosecutor’s Office and there is a need for your leadership to investigate these wrongs,” he added.
