THE Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday “yielded” to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas in the active prosecution of the criminal complaint against SPO1 Adonis Dumpit.
With the anti-graft office now handling the prosecution of the complaint, City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon believes the prosecution of the case is still in “very good and
competent hands,” noting the number of pleadings the anti-graft prosecutors filed relative to the murder complaint against Dumpit.
But Pedro Leslie Salva, Dumpit’s counsel, was disgusted.
“All I want is the case to move on as my client will suffer with all of these things going on. I don’t care who will prosecute. I am ready to defend my client wherever and whoever may prosecute,” Salva told Sun. Star Cebu in a text message.
“They (city prosecutors) were only complicating the situation. The first and second endorsement made by Moleo (Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices) is very clear. It would create a bad precedence. They could handle the case even if no authority is given to them,” he said.
For her part, private complainant Janeth Badana welcomed the prosecutors’ latest move, saying she had “full trust and confidence” on the Visayas-Ombudsman.
Sellon, in his three-page manifestation submitted to Judge Ester Veloso of the Regional Trial Court branch 6, cited a memorandum from the military ombudsman and the entry of appearance filed by the Visayas Ombudsman.
With the Moleo and the Visayas-Ombudsman having a tug-of-war over the right to prosecute the case, Sellon noted that such stirred a “minor controversy” between the two offices.
Sellon said the public prosecutors and the private complainant “mutually agreed” to let the Visayas-Ombudsman handle the prosecution of the case.
Dumpit is charged with murder for the killing of robbery suspect Ronron Go in Barangay Tejero, Cebu City in 2004.