Corruption in Fiscals Office in [CENSORED DUE TO ] (ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175) or Incompetence?
Rosita Garces owns a mining claim in [CENSORED DUE TO ] (ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175) , and she found out the group of Ezekiel Lok (Aka Albert Lok) was trying to haul copper stocks from her area without the proper permits or her consent, basically they were stealing the stock.
She duly reported this to the PNP and to GSAC (Governors Special Action Commitee) who upon verification that the stocks were coming from her area they apprehended the truck hauling the stocks and recommended Theft of Minerals charges against Ezekiel Lok, Michael Alcantara and Jason Lin.
Ezekiel Lok is the guy mentioned in earlier posts who was born in Johore, Malaysia and now claims to be Filipino with his falsified documents, Michael Alcantera is the guy indicted for Robbery of the Austra Asia Offices, and Jason Lin is a Singaporean national acting as Lok’s representative here.
Col. [CENSORED DUE TO ] (ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175) , Chief of GSAC in his GSAC Apprehension Report detailed the basis of the apprehension of the stocks and truck and the law is clear Under DAO-96-40 otherwise known as the “Philippine Mining Act of 195″, Section 117 states you need an Ore Transport Permit to haul mineral stocks.
Section 118. Basis of Arrest and Confiscation/Seizures states “The absence of any of the foregoing documents (referring to OTP) shall be considered Prima Facie Evidence of Illegal Mining and shall cause the confiscation/seizure of the minerals” as such it was the basis of GSAC effecting the apprehension and probable cause of the crime of Theft of Minerals.
Photo of Truck loaded with copper ore apprehended by GSAC
Despite this neither GSAC, PMRB, Office of the Governor nor MGB ever filed charges against this group, so Rosita Garces engaged the services of a private Attorney to file a complaint against the group for the charge of theft of minerals, the Complaint Affidavit Garces vs Ezekiel Lok et.al is here.
The group in their counter-affidavit made starting admissions that “the collection of the said minerals were with our knowledge and consent” so now not only were they caught in the act, not only was the stock apprehended and case filed, they admitted the fact as well.
Now despite all of the above the Prosecutor ruled in herResolution of Fiscal [CENSORED DUE TO ] (ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175) in case of Garces vs Ezekiel Lok et.al a finding of no probable cause !
The fiscal questioned the authority of Rosita Garces to file the case suggesting it is only the MGB regional office who can file a complaint despite Rosita Garces having Certification from MGB saying it was her role to police the mining claim!
So here we have again Ezekiel Lok and his cohorts getting away with the crime of Theft of Minerals unimaginable that you can come to the Philippines, enter someones mining claim, steal their stock, they complain and the fiscal says you have nothing to complain about.
So you can see how the Justice system at work here in [CENSORED DUE TO ] (ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175) , Mindanao, Philippines is severely lacking of course Rosita Garces will be filing a motion for reconsideration and I will keep you posted on the outcome of that.
we have exactly the same situation here in Negros Occidental. The fiscal, despite the existence of probable cause dismiss our case . Hope we can learn from each other on similar cases and what would be the best move to see to it that justice is served.
Indeed the Investigating Prosecutor resolved the case based on the rusty, old and non-operative DENR Adminstrative Order No. 96-40 (IRR of RA 7942) not knowing that the Consolidated DENR Administrative Order No. 2010-21 (Revised Consolidated IRR of the Mining Act) was already a year in effect..