Jesus M Elbinias
NEWS reports have been printed about an unidentified security officer who purportedly caught on digital video camera an alleged break-in in one of the rooms where questioned ballot boxes containing votes for the President and others were stored in the House under watch of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force. Also, the videotape catching six House civilian employees barging into the South Wing of the Batasan Complex, where they stole election returns from 38 provinces, and replaced them with fake and tampered ones. Such reports should not be given credence even if the video tape is proven authentic unless those six employees and PNP watchers are investigated and charged together with the coup plotters.
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Secretary Ignacio Bunye’s opinion is correct that the Quezon City Trial Court should not have Rep. Crispin Beltran ordered released as the order was based on the criminal case of inciting to sedition and not violation of the anti-rebellion law which is a non-bailable offense; nor is such offense protected by Art. 6, Section II of the Constitution, invoked by Beltran’s lawyer Romeo Capulong, that guarantees parliamentary immunity to members of Congress. With that court order, the PNP Investigation and Detection Group cannot just defy the court and refuse to release Beltran from detention despite the order just because Beltran has a pending rebellion case in the Makati Trial Court. They must first legally challenge the order in higher courts before ignoring the order.
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I don’t see how General Orders No. 5 and No. 6 — issued under the clear instruction and directives of the President as a result of Proclamation No. 1017, declared by President Arroyo — could or would be implemented for wrongful acts from which President Arroyo can’t escape culpability for any wrongdoing committed as a result of those directives that lawyers, particularly the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), has warned Gloria of for her alleged abuse of power. Anyway Go. 5 directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines to maintain the peace and public order and suppress lawless violence, while Go. 6 directed the AFP to coordinate with the national police. A retired Supreme Court Justice said in the Senate hearing that she could be liable for arbitrary acts. Why arbitrary?
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It was a surprise to see on a TV screen a person wearing a brown hood and a bullet-proof vest. Seeing it sometime I thought it was a monkey just dressed to look like a man — one who had come down from another planet. He turned out to be a hooded witness brought by the police to the preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice to testify against the six partylist congressmen facing rebellion charges for plotting to overthrow the government. When asked of his identity, without removing his hood, by affidavit he identified himself as Jaime B. Fuentes, claiming to be a communist cadre having witnessed meetings attended by the six lawmakers to topple the administration. If he is a professional witness as claimed by the defense lawyers, the court should know.
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