THE National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) criticized the Court of Appeals (CA) decision ordering the release of former Palawan governor Joel Reyes, the alleged mastermind in the killing of environmentalist and broadcaster Gerry Ortega.
"Together with the other contemporaneous Court of Appeals rulings unreallistically preventing the deposition taking of human trafficking victim Mary Jane Veloso and the wholesale rejection of the human rights victims' claims against the estate of kleptokrat Marcos, the decision to let gloating ex-Palawan Governor Joel Reyes "miraculously" get off the hook for the killing of anti-mining advocate and journalist Gerry Ortega demonstrate a triple-whammy let down to those who will resort to our justice system for remedies," NUPL President Edre Olalia said Tuesday, January 9.
The CA recently ordered the release of Reyes after it held that the Puerto Princesa Regional Trial Court had no basis to find probable cause and proceed with the trial of the murder case filed against Reyes.
Ortega was killed by a gunman in Puerto Princesa in 2011. His reports linking the former governor to the misused funds in Palawan reportedly led to his killing.
The Ortega family is now studying their next move to overturn the CA's decision.
Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. also said the Palace will exhaust all legal remedies to overturn the appellate court's decision. (Keith Calayag/SunStar Philippines)