SC ruling on plea bargain for drug suspects opposed

The Public Attorney’s Office on Monday rejected a Supreme Court’s decision denying the grant of a plea bargain for drug suspects without the consent of a prosecutor.

At a media briefing, PAO chief Persida Acosta said the High Court’s Second Division issued a seven-page decision annulling an Aug. 24, 2018 order of the Naga City Regional Trial Court granting the motion of drug suspect Edwin Reafor to plea bargain due to the opposition of the prosecution.

“We are filing today (May 10) an Omnibus motion to ask the Supreme Court en banc to hear the instant case, and that after referral to the en banc, oral arguments be heard,” she told reporters.

The Reafor decision is unconstitutional for violation of the clauses of equal protection and due process of the 1987 Constitution, independence of the judiciary and rule-making power of the Supreme Court, and supremacy of the Constitution, Acosta said.

“Why should plea bargaining be under the full control of the (trial or state) prosecutor?” she asked. “The judge will be subservient to the prosecution.”

Acosta said if the prohibition is not reversed, prisons and detention facilities could face congestion.

Those accused of murder, rape, car theft, and other heinous crimes are allowed to enter plea bargain but violators of the Dangerous Drugs Act, especially the small-time drug pushers and users, are prohibited from doing so, she said.