More lawmakers appeal to keep MJ out of jail

More House colleagues of embattled Manila Rep. Mark "MJ" Jimenez are supporting his bid to stay out of jail and fight his extradition to the United States.

Jimenez even got an unexpected boost yesterday from the leftist party-list group Bayan Muna.

Rep. Prospero Nograles (Lakas, Davao City) said the right of an accused, "regardless of his place in society, whether he is an ordinary Filipino or a congressman, is paramount because liberty is sacred."

This right should not be denied in any proceeding, be it criminal, administration or related to an extradition case, he said.

Nograles, a Bar topnotcher, also opposed the move of Justice Secretary Hernando Perez to have Jimenez arrested even before the lapse of the 15-day deadline for the Manila congressman to appeal the Supreme Court decision revoking his bail.

"Congressman Jimenez is entitled to file a motion for reconsideration as a matter of right within the period given him by the Court. The justices also have the right to change their minds," he said.

He said by wanting to have the embattled lawmaker arrested immediately if possible, Perez is denying Jimenez and the justices such rights.

"Why is he in a hurry?" he asked.

Another Lakas congressman, Rep. Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte, urged the Supreme Court and the Manila RTC where Jimenez’s extradition case is pending, to decide the bail issue "solely on the merits, taking into consideration the substantive and procedural rights of Congressman Jimenez."

He said speculation should not be injected into the decision-making process.

Barbers was apparently referring to the argument of noted constitutionalist and Ateneo law dean Fr. Joaquin Bernas that the Supreme Court revoked Jimenez’s bail because it feared the lawmaker could be a "flight risk."

Jimenez himself has claimed that the high tribunal engaged in speculation that has no basis at all.

"The fact is I have been here since I returned home on May 10, 1998 and have not left the country," he said.

While upholding his colleague’s right to bail, Barbers at the same time dissuaded other House members from applying "undue pressure" on the Supreme Court.

"Let justice take its course without any form of meddling or influence from anyone," he said.

Aside from Nograles and Barbers, Jimenez won an unlikely ally yesterday in leftist labor leader Crispin Beltran, one of Bayan Muna’s three representatives in the House.

Beltran said in wanting to have Jimenez immediately jailed, Perez is acting on the dictates of the US government.

He said while the justice secretary wants to enforce US laws here, the country’s own laws are being flagrantly violated and the concerned authorities couldn’t care less about such violations.

He noted that the Supreme Court acted on Jimenez’s bail case shortly after US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone criticized the judiciary.

"The Supreme Court could well be trying to prove Ricciardone wrong using Jimenez as a case in point," he said.

Beltran also said the RP-US extradition treaty "works only one way because American citizens such as members of the US military who have committed more evil crimes here have been able to escape and avoid prosecution."