RP leader sacks govt prosecutor

RP leader sacks govt prosecutor

MANILA (AFP): Philippine President Joseph Estrada has sacked
an assistant provincial prosecutor as part of a nationwide
campaign against corruption, a palace statement said on Sunday.

The statement said Estrada sacked Carlos Barbero of northern
Abra province for "gross dishonesty and serious misconduct
inimical to public interest."

It said Barbero, the fifth government prosecutor sacked within
one month, moved for the dismissal last week of two criminal
cases involving robbery, homicide and rape despite sufficient
evidence to secure convictions of the accused.

The prosecutor's "alacrity in filing the motion which
eventually led to the dismissal of the criminal cases is conduct
that is exactly the opposite of what the government expects,"
Estrada said in an administrative order booting out Barbero.