THE victims in the supposed case fixing scandal at the City Prosecutor's Office (CPO) are set to file administrative cases before the Office of the Ombudsman next week against all those allegedly behind the extortion racket, Regional State Prosecutor (RSP) Jaime Umpa said Friday, November 25.
Umpa said his office will support the move of the complainants in consonance with the government's zero tolerance policy against corruption.
"The complainants are planning to push next week to file an administrative case before the Office of the Ombudsman once ma prove nga they really are engaged into such activities," he said.
"Mo-support mi sa ilang move and we will be behind the case. As for the RSP, fact-finding lang akong i-conduct and then will submit to Secretary Aguirre for proper disposition," he added.
Umpa made the statement following the release of a document from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Northern Mindanao and the CIDG-Cagayan de Oro City detailing the results of the investigation made by the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Anti-cybercrime Group (ACG).
The document, prepared by the ACG after examining the two mobile phones seized from Genard Abejo, supposedly details the exchange of text messages between Abejo and some fiscals at the CPO.
Abejo was arrested in an entrapment operation last November 11.
The document stated that the registered contacts "appear to be from the City Prosecutor's Office which may indicate knowledge or participation in possible case fixing."
The messages show that days before Abejo was arrested last November 11, Abejo already served as the "middleman" between the complainants and some fiscals.
The result of the digital examination also showed before his arrest, Abejo had conversations with two supposed fiscals, the first at 2:59 p.m. and the second at 4:13 p.m., and a third during the pay-off with the complainants at 5:03 pm.
The ACG was also able to retrieve text messages from Abejo’s two phones which detail the alleged negotiations between families of the accused and the fiscals.
"Nard ang reso waglang ibigay pakita mulang na merun at ginawa natin ako na bahala sa kanila fiscals kasi dami nakialam sa kaso na yan. Kaya wag naman pahamak tayo hindi naman tayo nag hingi sila naman ang maysabi at magpatulong at magbigay," read a text from one of the supposed fiscals.
A copy of the affidavits of complaint of the three complainants, whom Abejo supposedly transacted with, was also obtained by this paper.
The affidavits will serve as the basis of the complaints at the Ombudsman against Abejo and the rest, Umpa said.
The affidavits detail how cases were supposedly "fixed" in exchange for agreed amounts for certain accommodations ranging from P25,000 for the raffling of cases among fiscals to as much as P400,000 for case resolutions.
