2 witnesses vs GMA missing

MANILA, Philippines - Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Jesus Mupas ordered yesterday the termination of presentation of witnesses against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her co-accused, former provincial election officer Lintang Bedol and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan, after prosecutors admitted that their witnesses are missing.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) lawyer Juana Maria Valesa told Mupas that they cannot present prosecution witnesses former Maguindanao election officer Rasam Mabang and former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas at yesterday’s hearing on the electoral sabotage charges against Arroyo and the other accused because they have disappeared from the safehouse and could no longer be found.

“It (missing witnesses) is beyond our control,” she admitted during yesterday’s hearing.

Sigfried Fortun, counsel of Ampatuan, said the supposed disappearance is a show of incompetence with the failure to present the last two witnesses, one of whom was its supposed star witness in the bail hearings on the election sabotage case.

The Comelec was scheduled to present Unas and Mabang as the last two witnesses in the bail hearings.

Valesa said Mabang went missing a few hours before his scheduled testimony before the court yesterday morning.

“I was with him last night but this morning, he could not be located,” she told the court.

Unas, on the other hand, cannot be presented due to security considerations.

Prosecutors said Unas is the lone witness that would supposedly link Arroyo to the alleged cheating in Maguindanao five years ago.

Unas claimed that he heard Arroyo give instructions to Ampatuan for a 12-0 victory for the administration’s senatorial ticket in Maguindanao in the 2007 elections.

Valesa then moved to reset the hearing to give them time to present Mabang and Unas.

Lawyers of Arroyo, Ampatuan, and Bedol opposed the prosecutor’s action, saying that the bail hearings should not be delayed since it affects the liberty of the accused.

“The accused are entitled to a speedy trial especially in these bail petitions because this affects their right to post bail when the evidence of guilt is not strong. The failure of the Comelec to present its last two witnesses today when they had more than 20 days to prepare for this hearing shows their incompetence in dealing with this case,” Fortun said.

He added that just as much as the court had shown its commitment and dedication to resolve the case at the soonest possible time by its issuance of a warrant of arrest just hours after the case was filed before it, it should not allow itself to falter in such instance when a delay is being interposed by the prosecution.

Mupas ordered the prosecution team to submit its formal offer of evidence in three days after which the defense is given the same period to comment. The case will then be submitted for resolution.

Valesa said she was looking forward to the attendance of Mabang in today’s hearing because he wanted to show that he was not telling the truth when he executed his sworn affidavit before the joint Comelec-Department of Justice (DOJ) panel that investigated alleged election violations in Maguindanao during the 2007 elections.

Mabang claimed that he did not conduct a canvass of election returns for national positions that year.

Reynaldo Princesa, lawyer for Bedol, said Mabang’s failure to attend the bail hearing only proved that he did not want to tell more lies.

“What I know is that he did not want to testify today because he did not want to tell a lie,” he commented.

Valesa also bared that it was only yesterday that they were informed that Unas and Mabang were not under the Witness Protection Program of the DOJ, prompting Fortun to again comment that the same was an “incredible” admission.

“I am to sorry to say that this claim is incredible. It again demonstrates their incompetence,” he said.

Arroyo’s lawyer Ben Santos said after the hearing that with the termination of the presentation of witnesses, the electoral sabotage case against the former President has collapsed.

“The electoral sabotage case has collapsed and buried, no evidence, no witness to prove the allegations,” he said.