‘Lawyering for Estrada calamitous’

"Not only disastrous but calamitous."

This was how former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Manuel Pamaran described his appointment by the anti-graft court special division as counsel ex oficio of jailed former President Joseph Estrada, saying it may mean forfeiting his pension.

In his first appearance as Estrada’s legal counsel yesterday in the special division chaired by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, Pamaran also asked the court if his appointment might not be perceived with "impropriety and irregularity."

Pamaran, the original "Hanging Judge" who was the first presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan, noted that during the two years he chaired the anti-graft court’s first division, Nazario served as his clerk of court.

Lawyer Renato Bocar, chief of the anti-graft court legal division and spokesman of the special division, said that a counsel de officio representing an accused in a capital offense is entitled to a P500 allowance per appearance.

But Pamaran said the amount could hardly augment the pension he receives as a retired justice.

"I am not in a position to renounce my pension because that is my only source of income. It is not only disastrous but calamitous if I renounce my pension," he said.

Pamaran, however, said it did not bother him that he would now address as "Your Honor" his former clerk of court in the 1980s.

"I am actually more concerned on the perception of impropriety over my appointment as counsel de officio of Estrada where people would think that I may cite influence over members of this court. The people may say that Estrada was acquitted because of me. Being a former justice of the Sandiganbayan, I don’t want to be imputed," he said.

"Anyway, I’m just discharging my duties," he added.

Associate Justice Edilberto Sandoval, senior member of the special division, said Pamaran may continue to represent Estrada if the prosecution will not raise any objection.

For his part, lawyer Rodolfo Jimenez asked the court if his appointment by the anti-graft court would mean that he will be working with lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).

"The PAO is under the Department of Justice which is the trunk arm of the prosecuting body of the government, that is under the same agency which is interested in sending Estrada to jail. It is an anomalous and scandalous spectacle having Estrada being defended by the same," Jimenez said.

Jimenez, who is also a lawyer of former First Lady Imelda Marcos in various criminal and civil cases in different divisions of the Sandiganbayan, refused to enter his appearance as Estrada’s counsel de officio and asked the court that he be allowed to leave.

"I beg the court to allow me to leave because I don’t feel that my appearance here is appropriate. I don’t feel that I’m in a position to defend Estrada. May I be excused, your honor?" he asked.

But Nazario junked Jimenez’s motion, saying he was duty bound to follow the order of the court.

"So I will just sit?" Jimenez asked.

He did not participate in the proceedings or utter a word after that.

Nazario ordered Jimenez to put in writing his manifestation and submit it to the court.

Even the PAO, through PAO director lawyer Percida Rueda-Acosta, also asked the court to recall the appointment of lawyers Arturo Temanil, Silvestre Mosing, Joefferson Toribio and Melita Lauron, citing there are already private lawyers assigned to Estrada as counsels ex officio.

Acosta, however, disagreed with Jimenez on alleged conflict of interest if PAO lawyers represented Estrada, citing the same office represented 147 Estrada loyalists after the failed siege on Malacañang on May 1 last year.

"As part of our history, the PAO is acting on its independence despite the fact that the PAO is an attached agency of the DOJ. But considering that there is a battery of private lawyers, may we be relieved of our appointment?" Acosta asked.

But Nazario likewise thumbed down the request because the division wants to speed up Estrada’s trial on plunder and four other criminal cases in the Sandiganbayan. — Jose Rodel Clapano