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.