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hopeless_race : Lets not just focus sa mga malversation of funds, sa mga overpricing..ating pagtuunan ng atensyon ang diskarte ng mga politiko na umuutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno."Small time" ang ibang pamamaraan ng pangungurakot kumpara sa pag-utang sa gobyerno ng bilyon na tunay ngang masasabing "pinaka big-time" at wala pang sabit.
hopeless_race : Mukhang tikom ang bibig ng lahat pagdating sa diskarte ng mga politiko sa pagutang ng mga bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno na tinatakbuhan. Itong pamamaraan na ito ang tunay na kumakain ng malaking porsyento ng ating national budget batay na din sa sinasabi ng world bank.
hopeless_race : Pakisilip naman po ang mga utang ni Villar sa BSP, ang mga utang nila RAMON JACINTO, RONNIE ZAMORA, JOE DE VENECIA at madami pang ibang mga pulitiko. Iilan lamang yan sa mga nababanggit sa balita na may mga malalaking utang sa gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Nagmimistulang "small time" lamang ang malversation of funds kumpara sa laki ng kinakamal ng mga umuutang sa gobyerno. At ito ay malinaw na natatakbuhan dahil hindi nga naman pwede makulong ang may-ari ng kumpanya sa pagkaka-utang lamang. Tunay na mga tuso at magagaling sa batas itong mga politiko natin. Masasabi ko na malamang lahat ng mga politiko ganito ang diskarte...wala pang kulong.
hopeless_race : PCIJ pkitingnan naman po ang mga gaya ni Villar na my malaking utang sa Gobyerno pero tinatakbuhan. Magtatayo ng kumpanya at uutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno ng walang balak bayaran. Tunay ngang walang nakukulong sa utang...ito ang prinsipyo ginagamit ng mga politiko ntin kaya nakakapagtaka kung san napupunta ang daang bilyong pera ng gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
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Journalists slam Cebu court decision to stop trial of Esperat slay ‘brains’

Posted by: Tita C. Valderama | May 29, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Filed under: In the News, Journalist Killings

A NETWORK of national media organizations on Wednesday assailed on the decision of the Cebu Court of Appeals to indefinitely stop the prosecution of the suspected masterminds in the 2005 murder of journalist Marlene Esperat in Sultan Kudarat, southern Philippines.

The Cebu appellate court granted on May 14 an indefinite preliminary injunction preventing Cebu Regional Trial Court Branch 7 Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr. from hearing the case against Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay, the alleged brains behind the killing of Esperat.

Associate Justice Francisco Acosta penned the order, and Associate Justices Amy Lazaro-Javier and Florito Macalino concurred. They said the Cebu RTC did not have jurisdiction over the murder case against Montañer and Sabay, supposedly because the crime was committed in Tacurong City, not in Cebu.

In a statement, the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) called the court’s decision a setback in the battle against impunity. FFFJ is composed of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Center for Community Journalism and Development, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, Philippine Press Institute, US-based Philippine News and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

“The Esperat case is particularly important in dismantling the culture of impunity that has so far claimed the lives of 34 journalists since 2001 while in the line of duty,” the FFFJ pointed out. “The trial of the suspected masterminds alone will send a signal to the killers of journalists that the judicial system is finally working.”

Esperat, publisher and columnist of Sultan Kudarat newspaper The Midland Review, radio commentator and anti-graft crusader, was gunned down on March 24, 2005 while having supper with her children at their home in Purok Ilang-Ilang, Barangay New Isabela, Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.

Apparently as a consequence of having filed graft cases against ranking public officers, Esperat became a target of assassination attempts, including a grenade attack on her house in 2003 and an attempted abduction in 2002.

FFFJ noted that the appellate court’s injunction on the RTC came after granting on March 25 a 60-day temporary restraining order and suspending the service of the warrants of arrest against suspected masterminds Montaner and Sabay last Feb. 4.

In granting the injunction, the Cebu CA cited an April 3 comment by the Office of the Solicitor General, asserting that Montaner and Sabay were not covered by an earlier Supreme Court ruling transferring the venue of the trial of the case from Tacurong to Cebu.

Updating members of the media on the Esperat case during a journalism forum sponsored by PPI, lawyer Joel Butuyan noted what looked like an anomalous situation where the OSG, which should have taken the side of Esperat in the appeals court after taking over the case from state prosecutors, took the position of the alleged masterminds.

With the CA injunction, Butuyan said the case could “sleep the sleep of the dead” unless media organizations and other groups continue to put pressure for the speedy resolution of the case. He noted that the court’s injunction was for an “indefinite” period.

Butuyan said the Supreme Court needs to issue a resolution to declare that the original order in 2005 for the transfer of the venue of the case from Tacurong to Cebu applies equally to the killers who were convicted in October 2006 as well as to the alleged masterminds who had been pinpointed by one of the killers, so that the trial could proceed.

In 2005, the Supreme Court transferred the venue of the case of Esperat’s killers to Cebu on the ground that the suspects’ influence in Tacurong could affect the outcome of the case.

State prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila had said the prosecution will seek a reversal of the appellate court’s injunction within the 20-day deadline.

One of the suspected assassins, former Army Sergeant Rowie Barua had turned witness, pointing to Montañer and Sabay as the brains behind Esperat’s murder. Montañer, former finance officer of the Department of Agriculture in Region 12, and Sabay, the regional accountant, were among the public officers involved in graft and corruption cases that Esperat had unearthed and exposed.

Montañer and Sabay allegedly drew up the plan to permanently silence Esperat. The gunman, Estanislao Bismanos, along with Randy Grecia (co-conspirator) and Gerry Cabayag (lookout) were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by Cebu City RTC Judge Eric Menchavez on October 6, 2006.

In a briefing paper provided by the CMFR, lawyer Nena Santos described the Esperat case to have “a very promising outcome” because of the “clear identification of the masterminds and full cooperation from the witnesses.”

Santos is the private counsel for the prosecution. CMFR serves as secretariat to the FFFJ that initiated the petition to transfer the case to Cebu in response to security concerns of the witnesses and considering the clout of the accused that could unduly influence the outcome of the case if it is heard in Tacurong.

“With the strong testimonies of suspect-turned-state witness Barua, the case against alleged masterminds Montañer and Sabay remains string,” the CMFR briefer said. “The case, however, is not only a press freedom issue,” it averred, noting that “Montañer’s and Sabay’s connection in the killing of Esperat and the cases left by the journalist, could pave the way for a deeper scrutiny on the alleged massive corruption inside the Department of Agriculture up to the highest posts.”

“Based on the exposes made and cases filed by Esperat in the Ombudsman, the corruption inside the DA not only involves the two suspected slay masterminds, but also several high ranking national officials, allegedly also including embattled former DA undersecretary Jocelyn ‘Jocjoc’ Bolante and former National Food Authority administrator and now DA Secretary Arthur Yap, in connection with the P1.1-billion fertilizer scam,” the further stated.

Melinda Quintos-de Jesus, CMFR executive director, lamented that legal technicalities are being used by some people to get away with murder.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 and is filed under In the News, Journalist Killings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 people have left comments

Despite my familiarity of court procedures, I always find something the court will do that fascinates me no end.

If there was a previous order from the SC to transfer venue of trial of persons involved in a crime from Tacurong to Cebu for reason of convenience and in the interest of justice, (witnesses are free to talk in Cebu than in Tacurong and prosecutors in Cebu will be relatively free from the wrath of the mighty in Cebu), the subsequent arrest and prosecution of others allegedly involved in the same crime would similarly be covered in that order because the justification of transfer in the first proceedings will always be there, and this time for greater reason because it is the alleged masterminds that are being arrested.

Now, this one fascinates me still: If the prosecution has determined a prima facie evidence against a suspect/suspects and a trial court has issued an arrest order pursuant to such findings, it is highly irregular for a higher court to issue a restraining order to prevent the arrest of the suspects because you are already pre-litigating issues of facts which is the domain of the trial court.

Higher courts should simply say to the arrestee: “Don’t come to me, prove your innocence before the trial court or convince the trial court that the warrant was baseless and arbitrarily issued”. Only after the trial court has acted differently that the arrestee can go to the higher court”.

Petition to quash a warrant can be entertained only in cases of patent abuse of authority and lack of probable findings of guilt. Here, former Army Sgt. Barua one of the suspected assassins, turned witness pointed to Montaner and Sabay as the masterminds and on that basis, the trial court had issued the warrant of arrest.

But politics and justice in the Philippines always have some interesting twists and turns. They always turn to favor the mighty and the corrupt at the expense of the truth and the public at large.

But if these two (Montaner and Sabay) were not really involved in that case, they would not be afraid to litigate the case in any forum, unless of course their perception is that any court in the Philippines is always tainted and just as corrupt like them?

Oh boy, we are totally screwed!!!!

jcc wrote on May 29, 2008 - 11:16 pm | Visit Link

“The dispensing of injustice is always in the right hands.” [Stanislaw Lec (1909 - 1966) Polish writer].

In my book, I wrote:

“The country sometimes was able to recruit the best legal minds that were also honest for higher positions because these lawyers saw the prestige of the positions and have the desire to be of service to the country. But most of the times, the executive department recruited judges out of patronage and the Supreme Court which filtered these aspirants was not insulated from the same closed-door horse-trading, backslapping and patronage.

Thus, the country ended up staffing most of its judicial positions and positions in the department of justice with legal rejects and intellectual pygmies. This lopsided ratio of legal pygmies and giants in the government defines the quality of justice the country dispenses. If you account for the fact that these rejects are also corrupt, the problem is exponentially magnified”.

To quote novelist James Baldwin: “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have”.

jcc wrote on May 30, 2008 - 4:43 am | Visit Link

JCC, I am imagining how much could be a monthly salary of an army Sergeant or how much authority do they have to influence a court decision. Something fishy about this army sergeant, and come to think that he has some aces in his hands that can really move mountains. Utang na loob system…yan ang value ng Gobyerno natin ngayon.

Ano kaya ang pinagkakautangan na loob ng mga maimpluwensyang tao dyan sa Pinas dyan sa sarhento na yan…at ayaw nilang pakantahin.

nosi balasi wrote on May 30, 2008 - 4:46 am | Visit Link

ipinagmamalaki pa ng malacanang…balwarte nila ang cebu…ano pa nga ba ang magiging resulta ng desisyon ng korte…pero kung ang sarhento na yan ay wala sa panig ng gobyerno…di na makakarating sa Cebu ang hatol dyan…automatic sentensyado na agad. kailangan pa ba ng sampol…di na siguro.

sana maisip ng lahat, ang takot ay nasa isip lamang. Ang kinabukasan natin ay nagmula sa kasalukuyan.

itong mga kaganapan na nangyayari ngayon sa pinas…magbubunga ng di maganda sa kinabukasan…

kung sa ngayon…ang pangit na ng imaheng pinoy sa buong mundo…ano na kaya tayo sa kinabukasan.

kung sa ngayon…tama ang manahimik at maghintay na lamang…malamang ang kinabukasan natin ay di na darating…pagkat ganun pa din ang magaganap. mababa ang palitan ng dollar, pero ang bilihin mataas…may sweldo ka ng isang buwan pero ubos agad ng isang linggo lamang…kung ano ang nagyayari kay Juan…ganun din ang nangyayari sa Pinas…nababaon sa utang ang ordinaryong manggagawa…ang pinas lubog na sa utang sa ibang bansa…

ang isang mamamahayag na di nila kayang itumba…sasabihin nilang bayaran…kung is esperat ay isang taga maynila at doon din nagsusulat…kayang kaya nilang siraan yan…syempre tatakutin nila yung mga may-ari ng stasyon na pinagtatrabahuan niya at marami pa silang kayang gawin…minalas lang siya…kasi nga malayo siya sa Manila. Pwede naman itumba lang…malayo at maaring makalimutan agad. Ganun nga ang ginawa…ayun may nangyari ba sa kaso…ano pa…balitang balita ba?

kung si Jun Lozada…taga Mindanao din…magsasalita pa lang siya…wala na agad hininga yan.

Kasi nga sa Manila…neutral…nandoon ang mass media…simbahan…at civil society groups at marami pang iba…takot lang nila na araw-arawin ang rally sa kalsada.

nosi balasi wrote on May 30, 2008 - 5:21 am | Visit Link

LLENA IPONG-AVILA, is this my honorable classmate from PEYUPS?

jcc wrote on June 1, 2008 - 5:51 am | Visit Link

[...] in convictions, with not a single mastermind prosecuted or sent to jail, including the two cases of Marlene Esperat and Edgar Damalerio that were supposed to be “victories for [...]

The Daily PCIJ » Blog Archive » Protecting the messenger, preserving democracy wrote on October 3, 2008 - 5:41 pm | Visit Link

[...] May 14, 2008, the Cebu City Court of Appeals issued a writ of preliminary injunction prohibiting the Cebu City RTC from proceeding with the case [...]

The Daily PCIJ » Blog Archive » Murder charges filed vs Esperat killing’s alleged masterminds wrote on October 20, 2008 - 7:32 pm | Visit Link