DOJ charges doctor with murder over killing of ex-CA justice
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice has filed before a Tarlac court a murder charge against a doctor over the killing of retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro.
In a case briefer on Thursday, the DOJ said prosecutors found the evidence against doctor Ramon Pangan “sufficient to support a finding of probable cause that [he] committed the crime of murder.”
The DOJ said Pangan, a frequent companion of Pizarro, admitted in his sworn statement that on Oct. 23, 2020 he brought the retired justice to the place agreed upon by him and other unknown perpetrators, knowing that the plan was to kill Pizarro.
“The prosecutors found that Dr. Pangan’s acts of deliberately misrepresenting to retired Justice Pizarro that he knew of a shortcut route to their destination, to the extent of taking the wheel from the retired Justice and driving the vehicle himself, ensured the delivery of the victim to his killers and, eventually, guaranteed his demise,” the DOJ said.
Pizarro penned controversial rulings such as that clearing former Palawan governor Joel Reyes over the killing of environmentalist Gerry Ortega in January 2011; the acquittal of alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles in her serious illegal detention case and dismissal of the compensation claim of about 10,000 human rights victims from the Marcos estate.
He opted to retire ahead of his mandatory retirement in 2018.
In April 2018, the Supreme Court fined Pizarro P100,000 following an anonymous complaint that accused him of "being a gambling addict who would allegedly lose millions of pesos in the casinos daily." — Xave Gregorio with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
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