A RETIRED Supreme Court Associate Justice and a UST Graduate School alumnus, Jose Melo, said no one, not even President Macapagal-Arroyo who appointed him would be spared in his investigation of suspected political killings nationwide.
“Let the chips fall where they may,” Melo said. “We will not stop going after anyone involved. There will be no sacred cows.”
Melo, was appointed last Aug. 21 to head the commission that would look into the killings of government activists and dissidents. He said he hopes to finish the inquiry in four to six months. He added that findings would be referred to the Department of Justice and National Bureau of Investigation so that criminal proceedings could be initiated against the perpetrators.
Other members of the independent body are National Bureau of Investigation Director Nestor Mantaring, Chief Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, Bishop Juan Pablo de Dios of Butuan City, and civic leader Nelia Teodoro of the University of the Philippines.
The 74-year-old Melo received his Masters in Law from the UST Graduate School with the highest grade of meritissimus. He first joined government service in 1962 as executive assistant in the Malacañang legal office of President Diosdado Macapagal.
Melo was also appointed acting commissioner of the Professional Regulation Commission from 1974 until 1975. He was appointed in 1979 as associate justice of the Court of Appeals where he established a record of having zero backlog cases. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Fidel Ramos in 1992 and retired in 2002. P. B. A. C.
