PMP hits Sandigan for appointing new Estrada lawyer

"It’s like adding insult to injury!" howled the opposition Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) yesterday as it protested the Sandiganbayan’s appointment of another counsel de officio for jailed former President Joseph Estrada.

PMP spokesman Jesus Crispin Remulla said that the appointment of lawyer Noel Malaya is just like an added insult to injury considering that Estrada has no plans of accepting his services. Such a move by the special division, he said, was a "useless alternative."

Last Friday, the anti-graft court special division chaired by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario recalled the appointments of private lawyers Mario Ongkiko and Rodolfo Jimenez as Estrada’s counsels de officio and then appointed Malaya as replacement for Ongkiko and Jimenez with instructions to immediately coordinate with the other counsels de officio "to avoid further delay of the trial of the case."

Remulla said that although (Atty.) Malaya is a respected lawyer, he cannot effectively defend (former) President Estrada because the latter has no plans to accept his services.

"The (former) president has made it clear that he is not accepting the services of any lawyers to defend him in the Sandiganbayan because he has lost his confidence in the judiciary," Remulla said.

Remulla reiterated Estrada’s call for Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide and Associate Justices Artemio Panganiban and Antonio Carpio to resign because of their perceived bias against the former president.

Meanwhile, the Arroyo government is negotiating with the knee surgeon of the jailed former president on the possibility of conducting Estrada’s knee surgery in the country.

This was revealed yesterday by PMP spokesman Remulla, who said that the government, through Ambassador to the US Alberto del Rosario, is trying to convince Estrada’s US-based personal doctor Christopher S. Mow to conduct in the country the "total knee joint replacement" of Estrada.

He said that Mow, who is based in Stanford University Medical Center in the US, has already expressed his willingness to conduct the knee surgery of Estrada in a letter to Del Rosario dated March 15.

The government, according to Remulla, is now preparing security arrangements for Mow, who wants first to inspect if the facilities available in the country will be adequate for Estrada’s knee operation.

Remulla said that Mow expressed willingness to come to the country but asked the government to allow him to augment his personal security. "He also does not want to testify in court," Remulla said.

"This is a welcome development for me because this will help relieve the president, that is if Dr. Mow says he can do it here. But if says he can’t do it here, what happens then? Then he has to wait for an acquittal, which is impossible under this government," Remulla said.

Remulla also said that it is not the Estrada camp that is arranging Mow’s arrival in the country for Estrada’s knee operation.

"It is Ambassador del Rosario who is talking to Dr. Mow. This is an initiative of the Philippine government," he said.

Mow, in an earlier letter addressed to the anti-graft court, confirmed that Estrada’s knee injury should have been conducted as far back as 1994.

Private prosecutors, on the other hand, vowed yesterday to convince Ombudsman Aniano Desierto to file either indirect or direct contempt charges against Estrada for the latter’s continued attacks on the judiciary.

Lawyer Marichu Lambino, convenor of the Organization of United Solicitors for Truth and Estrada’s Resignation (OUSTER), which is helping government prosecutors in the Estrada cases, said that Estrada should be held in contempt to stop him from destroying the "integrity and dignity" of the judiciary.

"If Desierto fails to do it, we will make the necessary move. After Holy Week, we will push for the court to cite Estrada for contempt," Lambino said.

For her part, private prosecutor, lawyer Mildred Pfleider, said that although the punishment for contempt of court ranges only from a fine of not less than P2,000 and several days of imprisonment, Estrada should still be held in contempt to stop him from attacking the court.

"What is at stake here is the integrity and dignity of the court," Pfleider said.

She also said that Estrada is not actually detained because he continuously enjoys a "luxurious life" at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.

"From the very start, we have been asking the court to detain Estrada at the Fort Sto. Domingo. Once the court slaps Estrada with contempt of court, he should be transferred to a detention cell to serve whatever number of days as ordered by the court," Pfleider said.

She said that Estrada’s nine former lawyers should be included in the contempt raps as they have also consistently maligned and condemned the court.