(Eagle News) — The Department of Justice on Thursday, July 19, found probable cause for the drug charges against Kerwin Espinosa and others.
In reversing the decision of a previous panel, the panel composed of Senior Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera, Anna Noreen Devanadera and Prosecution Attorney Herbert Calvin Abugan said the “positive allegations of Marcelo Adorco identifying” Espinosa, Peter Co, Lovely Impal and Ruel Malindagan as his cohorts were “sufficient” to charge them with conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade.
According to the new panel, conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act was “distinct” from drug trading.
It said the “agreement to trade in drugs is the gravaman of such an offense,” and as such, the drugs themselves as “corpus delicti” of the drug trading “is not necessary under Section 26.”
To boost its argument, the panel cited the case of De Lima versus Guerrero, in which the panel “similarly relied on the confession of respondent (Espinosa) that he traded in drugs during the relevant periods as distributor in Regions 7 and 8.”
The panel said the charges against Espinosa, Co, Impal and Malindagan would be filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court.
The charges against Max Miro, Nestor Pepito and Rowen Reyes Secretaria, meanwhile, were dismissed as their “criminal liabilities were extinguished by their deaths,” the panel said.
The resolution also did not include Peter Go Lim as he filed a motion for separate preliminary investigation which the panel earlier granted.