High Court urged to junk poll sabotage case vs Arroyo

Monday, November 21, 2011
LAWYER Jose Miguel Arroyo asked the Supreme Court (SC) Monday to nullify the actions of a panel that recommended the filing of poll sabotage raps against his wife, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
If the Court favors Arroyo’s request, the Pampanga lawmaker will be out of police custody and proceed with her long-delayed plan to seek medical treatment overseas due to bone mineral disorder and hypoparathyroidism.
Arroyo is currently under hospital arrest at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City after the Pasay City Regional Trial Court branch 112 found probable cause to indict her for rigging the results of the 2007 senatorial elections.
In his 12-page motion, the former First Gentleman said the filing of the case by the Department of Justice-Commission on Elections (Comelec) panel was railroaded.
“The previous apprehensions that the proceedings conducted by the Joint Committee are designed to rig and railroad the preliminary investigation in the electoral sabotage case against the Arroyos, complained of in the petition, have now been proven true and real,” the petition read.
The joint investigating panel wrapped up its preliminary investigation last November 14 even as the ex-First Couple failed to submit their counter-affidavits.
Four days later, the poll body adopted the recommendations of the panel and requested Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay City court to issue a hold departure order against the former President, who was cleared by the SC to travel abroad.
But Judge Mupas issued a warrant of arrest instead, and this superseded the High Court’s affirmation of suspending the travel ban on the Arroyos.
On Sunday, SC spokesperson Midas Marquez said the Court may still void the filing of the criminal complaint against Arroyo if the fact-finding panel will be declared illegal and unconstitutional.
“If that panel is adjudged as unconstitutional, then of course all the proceedings conducted by that panel would have to be nullified but again we have to wait for the decision of the Court,” he said, adding the justices may discuss this in their en banc session on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, the High Court will hold an oral argument on the petitions filed by the Arroyos questioning the constitutionality of DOJ Circular 41, which was used by de Lima in preventing them from leaving the country last week.
Besides Arroyo, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos sought the nullification of the panel since it reportedly served the functions of law enforcer, prosecutor, and judge at the same time.
Abalos, who filed the petition with the SC last November 15, was also included in the list of people who were charged with electoral sabotage.
In the Senate, Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on Justice, defended the legitimacy of the DOJ-Comelec joint panel that found probable cause against Arroyo.
Escudero said, however, that the panel was only a fact-finding body.
“It was Comelec alone which deliberated on the existence of probable cause to merit the filing of the case, not the DOJ. This is in accordance with the law,” he said.
The senator added any questions that Arroyo’s camp will raise are already moot since the Comelec has already brought the case to court.
“Instead of raising technicalities, GMA (Arroyo) should take advantage of the opportunity given her to prove her innocence, if indeed she is, and face the charges leveled against her squarely and on the merits,” he added.
Escudero did not object to Arroyo’s hospital arrest but said the former President’s mug shots should be released to the public.
Mug shots of former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, who was charged and convicted of plunder, were made public after his arrest in 2001.
Mupas has left that decision to the prosecution and defense panels.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, jailed for seven years over mutinies against the Arroyo administration, did not object to the hospital arrest either.
“It doesn’t matter where the former President is detained as long as she faces all the charges against her,” the senator said in a text message to reporters.
Senator Gregorio Honasan II, chairman of the Senate public order committee, also agreed with the Monday ruling, saying it was for “humanitarian reasons for a former president who has not yet been convicted.” (Virgil Lopez/Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/11/21/high-court-urged-junk-poll-sabotage-case-vs-arroyo-191800

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Bldg 6460 Clark Observatory Building
Manuel A. Roxas Highway corner A Bonifacio Ave,
Angeles Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga 2023
0922-870-5173 0917-826-8790 (ask for Ana Fe)

Wine@Yats-International.com

YATS Wine Cellars
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 ask for Rea or Chay

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