MANILA , Philippines – On Monday, Jovencito Zuño caps a 35-year career in public service, of which 13 years were served as Chief State Prosecutor.
Among Zuño’s career highlights include the successful prosecution of former President Estrada for plunder in connection with insider trading in the Belle Corp. stocks; the convictions of former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez for rape-slay; Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos for rape of a minor; and, Hubert Webb and others for the Vizconde massacre.
Despite these achievements, Zuño is leaving his post with a bitter aftertaste. A year before his retirement, he got dragged into a drug-related bribery controversy, and just a week ago, he was slapped with graft charges.
As the Office of the Special Prosecutor is to the Ombudsman, the Chief State Prosecutor heads the prosecution arm of the Department of Justice. He exercises supervision and control over the National Prosecution Service (NPS), a bureaucracy of 1,750 prosecutors nationwide.
In the division of functions in the prosecutorial units of the government, the NPS is in charge of cases involving public officials whose salary grades are below 27. It is also deputized by the Ombudsman to prosecute graft cases to be filed before regular courts, and the prosecution of public officials for crimes that are not service-related.
Among the high-profile cases being handled by DOJ prosecutors are the double murder case against Senator Panfilo Lacson for the killing of publicist Salvador 'Bubby' Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, and the Maguindanao massacre allegedly perpetrated by the Ampatuan political clan.
But unlike the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which enjoys relative autonomy from the Ombudsman, the Chief State Prosecutor is under the control of the justice secretary, who is an alter ego of the President.
Still, while its powers may be clipped or undermined by whoever is the justice secretary, the Chief State Prosecutor cannot be unilaterally removed since it is a permanent position with security of tenure.
Pressure from all sides
Prosecutors are the first to build cases. They conduct preliminary investigation to determine probable cause for the filing of a complaint or information before the proper court. Cases may either prosper or be dismissed based on their appreciation.
As head of the NPS, Zuño says his post was a natural magnet for pressure. He recalled being dressed down once by a former justice chief who wanted a bouncing check case dismissed. The former boss was reportedly acting on behalf of a local politician, now a senator, who wanted the case junked.
Defending his post’s independence has been a daily struggle.
Politicians, friends and power brokers would drop by or call his office asking for favors. “I try to accommodate them as long as it would not compromise my job,” he says in an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak days before his retirement.
Still, “some say I am not a team player. They say I am independent-minded,” he adds.
This apparently was the reason why he failed to get appointed as Ombudsman, and later, as a commissioner of the Commission on Elections. He admitted applying for the posts “for a change of environment.”
Zuño says he was told that he did not get Malacañang’s nod “because I was too independent-minded.”
But others point out that Zuño was bypassed because he lacked political connections.
Prosecutors we interviewed agree that Zuño lacked political savvy or was simply naive. “He does not know how to play along. His virtue was his downfall,” one prosecutor says.
In the DOJ, it was an open secret that Zuño and his former boss, chief presidential legal counsel Raul Gonzalez, did not go along well. “I only go to his office when called. It is not my nature to indulge my bosses.”
Too trusting
Zuño was also was too trusting, and some people took advantage of this alleged weakness.
“Fixers are constant fixture in his office,” one lady prosecutor says. “Whether he is aware of it, it has affected the morale of some of us.”
It has also emboldened some prosecutors to corrupt the system.
It came as no surprise to some when Zuño was dragged into the Alabang Boys drug controversy. Guilty or not of the accusation, many say Zuño was an easy target.
The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission meted Zuño with a 90-day suspension over the drug case involving 3 high-profile suspects – Jorge Joseph, Joseph Tecson, and Richard Brodette.
Zuño, along with 4 other prosecutors, were accused of accepting bribes from the accused, a charge which they strongly denied. Zuño appealed his suspension before the Supreme Court, which, in turn, remanded the case to the Court of Appeals (CA),
A week before his retirement, graft charges were filed against Zuño and 4 other prosecutors for allegedly mishandling the case of suspected diamond smuggler, Siu Ting Alpha Kwok.
He and his co-accused were also charged with violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, and conduct prejudicial to the service and public interest.
Zuño denied the allegations, saying due process was observed in the investigation conducted by the panel of prosecutors and the subsequent release of the resolution.
“I did not know what hit me,” he says.
‘Ungrateful job’
Zuño says the Alabang Boys controversy was the lowest point in his life. “Sometimes, I regret spending 35 years in public service. Public service can be an ungrateful job.”
A few weeks ago, he says he received a call from Malacañang that his suspension had been lifted, but he found it hard to be pleased with the information. “I have to redeem myself. I still want the CA to rule on my suspension to prove my innocence.”
Zuño says he could not help but think that Malacañang was after his post early on. “It was as if they wanted me out of my position with all these pressures.”
In hindsight, Zuño says he should have applied for a post in the Court of Appeals, which would have spared him from controversies.
He says Chief Justice Reynato Puno Jr. once egged him to seek a CA post, but he was not interested. When he and Puno later met in a gathering in Cagayan de Oro, Puno told him: “Ikaw kasi, hindi ka nag-apply sa CA.”
Still, Zuño says he is proud that he is leaving the job with a legacy. “I worked in doubling the salary of prosecutors. Maybe, anytime soon, President Arroyo will sign the bill.”