Former Cebu City councilor Nestor Archival on Monday pleaded the Department of Justice to prosecute policemen implicated in the killing of his brother, lawyer Noel Archival, five years ago.
In a letter, Archival appealed to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to expedite the resolution of the petition seeking to file murder charges in court against regional officers of the Philippine National Police – Highway Patrol Group.
In particular, Archival called on the DOJ to resolve the petition for review seeking the reversal of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors' Office dismissing the charges against Chief Insp. Eduardo Mara and Senior Police Officer 4 Edwin Galan.
The councilor also asked Guevarra to reconsider the DOJ's resolution last year that junked the same charges against Chief Supt. Romualdo Iglesia, Sr.Insp. Joselito Lerion and PO1 Alex Bacani.
"The evidence is very clear that these HPG officials had conspired in the murder of my brother Atty. Noel Archival," the letter said.
"I am writing this letter because I have full faith and trust in your leadership as the head of the Department of Justice," Archival added.
He lamented how their petition for review against Mara and Galan has remained pending before the DOJ for two years now.
"Our family was completely shocked and surprised why the Petition for Review filed by Iglesia has been recently granted by the Department of Justice with speed and dispatch while our Petition for Review with the Department of Justice has not yet been acted upon until now," he said.
Archival urged authorities to also implement the outstanding warrant of arrest issued by the Cebu regional trial court against Iglesia, Lerion, and Bacani.
"Instead of submitting themselves to the authorities, the three accused have remained fugitives of justice for more than four years," he said.
The PNP HPG – Region 7 officers were accused of killing Archival, his driver Alejandro Jayme, and bodyguard Candido Miñoza on February 18, 2014 in Dalaguete, Cebu. Archival’s assistant, Paolo Cortes, survived the attack.
They were charged with multiple murder and frustrated murder.