THE Makati City Prosecutor’s Office will conduct a separate preliminary investigation next week into the string of charges recently filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against 11 individuals implicated in the death of flight attendant Christine Dacera.
This was after the Department of Justice (DOJ) endorsed the NBI complaints to the Makati Prosecutor’s Office for formal probe.
“I endorsed it to (the) Makati (Prosecutor’s Office). Separate cases treatment ‘yan,” Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento said in a message to reporters.
Recently, the NBI filed complaints before the Department of Justice against Mark Anthony Rosales, Rommel Galido, John Pascual dela Serna III, Darwin Joseph Macalla, Gregorio Angelo Rafael de Guzman, Jezreel Rapinan, Alain Chen, Reymar Englis, Atty. Neptali Maroto, Louie de Lima, and Southern Police District medico-legal officer Michael Nick Sarmiento.
Facing obstruction of justice charges are Rosales, Galido, Dela Serna, De Guzman, Rapinan, Chen, Englis, and Macalla, who partied with Dacera at the City Garden Grand Hotel on New Year’s Day. The NBI said they gave misleading information to prevent law enforcers to arrest the suspects.
Their legal counsel, Atty. Maroto is facing the same obstruction of justice case, while Dela Serna, Rapinan, Chen, and Louie De Lima were charged with reckless imprudence resulting in homicide. The NBI said respondents Dela Serna, Rapinan, Chen, and Louie De Lima “recklessly neglected the condition of Dacera that led to her untimely death.”
A case for perjury was filed against Galido, Dela Serna, and Macalla who allegedly gave false testimonies.
The NBI also recommended the filing of illegal drugs charges against respondents Rosales and Galido. According to the NBI press statement, they allegedly “tried to deliver or give away illegal drugs” during the New Year party.
Meanwhile, the NBI recommended the filing of falsification of public documents charges against SPD Medico Legal Officer P/Maj. Sarmiento, who conducted the autopsy on Dacera. The NBI press statement said the police officer “declared untruthful findings in his police report.“
