7 SEPTEMBER 2007

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AN 'INVISIBLE' TEAM
Villa-Ignacio, meanwhile, acknowledges the generous help they got from an “invisible” parallel team made up of private prosecutors, among them respected lawyers Arno Sanidad, Alex Padilla, Anthony Peralta, John Balisnomo, Christian Lim, Joey Peñafrancia, and former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo. Villa-Ignacio points out that several of the private prosecutors had also participated in the impeachment proceedings and thus knew the evidence by heart.

“We performed well,” he says, “but if we were alone — minus the private prosecutors — we would (have found) this very hard.” At the very least, prosecuting the country’s former chief executive complicated matters. Villa-Ignacio admits, “In other cases I handled, I would just stay focused on the legal issues. Here, you cannot separate the political color of the case.”

But the prosecution and defense teams agree on one thing: that the Sandiganbayan justices must be careful in making their decision on the historic case.

“The justices would not want a decision that would be assailed or reversed in the future,” says Villa-Ignacio.

Mendoza, for his part, had suggested to the justices earlier to declare publicly that they will not accept any promotion for themselves or their relatives from the Arroyo administration. This would then assure the public that they had arrived at their decision with no strings attached.

Mendoza’s former assistant, Tamano, also explains, “It is their loss if they decide in a particular way and later get appointed in the higher courts. There would always be doubts in their decisions.”

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