QUESTION SECOND DOJ-COMELEC PANEL POLL PROBE
[PHOTO AT LEFT - Comelec Chairman
Sixto Brillantes Jr.]
MANILA,
NOVEMBER 3, 2011 (TRIBUNE)
By Benjamin B. Pulta - Prosecutors and elections officials yesterday commenced
their formal investigation into the criminal charges of electoral sabotage filed
against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo and others.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) started
yesterday their joint preliminary investigation against Arroyo and others over
electoral sabotage charges in the 2007 national elections in Mindanao.
Lawyers of the former chief executive and other respondents were given copies
of the joint DoJ-Comelec fact-finding investigation report and the complaint of
Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel and were ordered by the joint panel chaired by
Prosecutor General Claro Arellano to answer the charges through submission of
respective counter-affidavits in the next hearing set on Nov. 14.
Arroyo was represented by former Justice secretary and retired Court of
Appeals Justice Artemio Tuquero.
"We will ask the committee to defer the proceedings since it is improper to
conduct this joint preliminary investigation," he told reporters.
Tuquero pointed out that the investigation was based on a fact-finding probe
conducted also by a separate joint DoJ-Comelec team.
He believes the two institutions have already prejudged the complaint, citing
media pronouncements of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Comelec Chairman
Sixto Brillantes that the joint PI would be concluded before Christmas and that
his client would possibly be in jail by the holidays.
The former DoJ chief revealed that they plan to question the joint probe
before the Supreme Court (SC) should the joint panel refuse to grant his motion.
"If you read the Constitution, the right to travel can only be curtailed when
there is a threat to national security and national interest is at stake. You
also consider as flight risk only those who have already been charged in court —
those who have been issued with arrest warrants.
"That is not the case with my client. The charges against her are still in
the preliminary investigation, meaning probable cause is not yet established,"
Tuquero explained.
Former first spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo, who was named respondent in
Pimentel's complaint, also sent his lawyer to the hearing.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio vowed to also question the DoJ-Comelec proceedings
before the SC. He reiterated his argument that the Comelec is an independent
constitutional body that should be under the supervision of the executive
department.
"We believe that the joint committee of the DoJ and Comelec, whose respective
heads are far from being impartial and disinterested, having lawyered for
parties who have contended that the 2004 and 2007 elections have been visited
with fraud, is nothing but a kangaroo court preordained to persecute our client
and his spouse, former President Arroyo," he argued.
Topacio said they have just received the copies of the complaints against
Arroyo but it did not necessarily mean that they were already submitting to the
jurisdiction of the panel.
Former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. was represented by lawyer Brigido
Dulay, while former Justice Sec. Alberto Agra by lawyer Lorna Kapunan.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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