Judiciary urged to steer clear of partisanship
A senior member of the House Committee on Justice has urged the judiciary to observe independence in treating criminal cases filed against political leaders of the country, saying court officials should steer clear of partisanship.
In a media forum in Quezon City, AKO Bicol Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe said the Sandiganbayan’s handling of the plunder case of former president and now Pampanga Rep Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has raised strong misgivings over the anti-graft court’s objectivity and fairness.
Batocabe said that many lawyers have expressed fear the judiciary’s inability to demonstrate to the public that it is fair in handling Arroyo’s case could “hurt democracy” in the country.
“If this will continue to happen to other former presidents and political leaders, if the judiciary fails to convince the public that politics cannot influence its decisions and that it is independent, we fear democracy may not survive,” said Batocabe, a member of the Malacañangbacked majority bloc in the House of Representatives.
Batocabe’s appeal for objectivity in treating Arroyo’s case was his reaction to a former law dean’s observations about how the Sandiganbayan First Division handles the P366 billion plunder case filed against Arroyo.
Former Far Eastern University law dean Antonio Abad chided the anti-graft court for its seeming failure to observe the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law on all citizens.
Abad, lawyer for the Cojuangco family, compared Sandigabayan’s handling of the plunder cases filed against Arroyo and former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
He observed that while Arroyo’s numerous appeals for compassion have been flatly rejected by the anti-graft court, the same motions filed when Estrada faced the non-bailable plunder charge were usually granted.
The law expert said Estrada was granted his request to have a bum knee treated abroad. The former president’s petition for house arrest was also granted.
On the other hand, Arroyo has not been given the same kind of leniency for various motions she has filed.
Abad also noted that Arroyo’s co-accused in the conspiracy to commit plunder case have been cleared despite the fact that government presented similar pieces of evidence against all accused.
Suffering from a serious form of spine ailment, Arroyo has been consistently denied appeals for treatment in reputable hospitals abroad, bail, and dismissal of the information for conspiracy to commit plunder filed against her.
Similar motions have been filed by her accused, among them former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes chairmen Manuel Morato and Sergio Valencia, Raymundo Roquero, Jose Taruc, and former Commission on Audit Chairman Reynaldo Villar.