Pre-trial of electoral sabotage case against GMA set

MANILA, Philippines - Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) has set on Aug. 23 the pre-trial of the electoral sabotage charges filed against Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after the court submitted for resolution the motion to fix bail for the temporary liberty of the former president.

“The Aug. 23 pre-trial will proceed irregardless of the decision of the court on whether to grant or deny the motion to fix bail,” RTC Branch 112 spokesperson Felda Domingo told The STAR.

Domingo said the motion for bail has already been submitted for resolution after the lawyers of Arroyo rested their case in the bail hearings.

She clarified that the motion to fix bail of Arroyo’s co-accused, former Maguindanao election officer Lintang Bedol, is still being deliberated after he presented three witnesses to refute allegations that he was involved in the alleged cheating during the 2007 midterm elections in Maguindanao.

Another co-accused is former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr.

The witnesses presented by Bedol have tagged former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas as the alleged brains of the manufacture and distribution of fake election documents.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes had already confirmed that he has approved the grant of immunity from criminal prosecution to Unas in exchange for his testimony against Arroyo in the electoral sabotage case.

“Under the law, we are empowered to give immunity from suit to a witness and that is where Norie Unas is now. After this we will put him under the Witness Protection Program,” Brillantes told reporters at the news forum at Annabel’s in Quezon City over the weekend.

Unas was not charged with electoral sabotage along with the former president, his former boss Ampatuan Sr. and Bedol before he became a witness for the Comelec.

Brillantes said they did not anymore charge him because he already volunteered his testimony against Arroyo even before he could be charged. He also said Unas had been under his custody since he submitted his sworn statement linking the former president.

Unas earlier testified before the Pasay City RTC that he decided to testify against Arroyo after he was implicated in the poll cheating in 2007 and the Maguindanao massacre in 2009.

Unas sought immunity from suit as a condition before he executed his sworn affidavit on Oct. 3, 2011 wherein he claimed that he heard Arroyo order his former boss Ampatuan to ensure a 12-0 victory in Maguindanao for the senatorial candidates of then administration coalition Team Unity in the 2007 elections even if they change the results.

Lawyer Raul Lambino, spokesman for Arroyo, said that the evidence against her in the electoral sabotage is weak since Unas’s testimony is hearsay and uncorroborated by other evidence.

“Aside from that, Unas’s credibility has been shattered,” said Lambino.

He said a person who wants to escape criminal prosecution would do everything to avoid being charged, including making up stories.