New justice secretary to review Espinosa, Napoles cases

April 9, 2018

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara said Monday he will review the controversial decisions of the Department of Justice that resulted in the resignation of Vitaliano Aguirre II last week.

Guevarra said covered by the review will be dismissal by prosecutors of drug charges against Cebuano businessman Peter Lim and self-confessed drug trader Kerwin Espinosa, which got the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Guevarra will take another look at the provisional coverage of pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim - Napoles in the government's witness protection program (WPP).

"I will review previous actions on the Espinosa and Napoles cases. That's top priority in view of the public interest involved," he said, in a text message.

"I 
will reserve any judgment though till i have thoroughly studied the matter. for now i'm forming a small legal  team to assist me, on top of the veteran guys at the DOJ (Department of Justice)," he added.

Guevarra said he will be "the last person to speak about cases under investigation... I will not prejudge till I've formed my own conclusion."

Guevarra, who served as deputy executive secretary in the Aquino and Duterte administrations, was appointed as DOJ chief on April 5 after Duterte accepted Aguirre's resignation.

Prior to his resignation, Aguirre ordered a reinvestigation of the Espinosa drug charges. A hearing has been set on April 12. DMS