Boratong pleads not guilty

Alleged big-time drug trafficker Amin Imam Boratong pleaded not guilty in his arraignment yesterday in Pasig City amid tight security.

His wife, Sheryl Molera, made no plea, prompting Judge Abraham Borreta, of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 154, to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Both arrived in handcuffs and wore bright orange shirts issued to detainees held at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). They were escorted by over a dozen heavily armed NBI agents.

Both appeared calm and spoke not a word as their lawyers presented arguments to the court.

Their lawyers — Raymond Fortun, who represented Boratong, and Edwin de la Cruz, Molera’s attorney — asked the court to keep their clients in NBI custody for the duration of the trial, saying their clients feared for their lives.

Fortun and De la Cruz asked the judge to have the arraignment deferred. Fortun argued that the Department of Justice had yet to rule on his client’s petition that they filed on Aug. 7 asking for a review of the complaint against him.

De la Cruz, on the other hand, said they have a pending motion for reconsideration on their petition to quash the arrest warrant on his client.

However, Borreta ordered the arraignment to proceed, explaining that there was no temporary restraining order for him not to do so. He told the defense lawyers that they could go to the Court of Appeals to protest his decision.

Fortun accused the Pasig City police of bias for refusing to hand over government witness Samer Palao to authorities despite a warrant of arrest on him issued by a Marawi City court.

Fortun added that Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez had written to NBI director Nestor Mantaring stating that he had no objection on Boratong’s continued detention there.

For his part, De la Cruz said Molera’s mother and friends have told his client that her life was in danger because of suspicion that she was the government informant who tipped off the authorities about Boratong’s shabu tiangge that was raided in February.

Borreta has yet to rule on the jail transfer issue.

Meanwhile, Borreta warned the DOJ this early that the government might lose the case against Boratong and Molera because of the government prosecutors’ frequent absences.

"For the record, it is the 9th time that the public prosecutor failed to appear before this court," Borreta pointed out. "It’s better that the media are here, because there’s a danger that the cases against the accused would be dismissed because of the failure to prosecute."

Borreta emphasized that the previous eight hearings had to be cancelled because the prosecutors were either attending a wake, away on an important errand or were sidelined by typhoon "Milenyo."

"I don’t want any finger-pointing here. Now, who is in-charge of the prosecution of the case?"" Borreta barked at city prosecutor Conrado Tolentino.

Tolentino said he would relay Borreta’s warning to the DOJ.

Government agents and police raided the shabu tiangge located on Feb. 10. Over 300 people were arrested. One of them was Molera, who managed to post bail.

Boratong and Molera went into hiding and were arrested last Nov. 21 in Makati City.

Tolentino later defended his fellow prosecutors. "It’s not actually failure to prosecute," he told reporters, insisting that the absences were excusable. "In fact, we have presented our evidence already. We are faster than any other court."

Borreta set the pre-trial of the case on Dec. 7.

NBI regional director Ruel Lasala said they would rather have Boratong in their custody. "He has previously refused to answer any of our questions, but we are hoping that he would cooperate in the coming days. We hope to know his sources and protectors," he told reporters.

The NBI is trying to find out if Boratong had connections with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Head Agent Roel Bolivar, of the NBI-Reaction Arrest and Interdiction Division, said documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs showed that an MNLF member assisted Boratong in obtaining a passport in 2002.

That prompted the NBI to ask help from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in determining the extent of Boratong’s ties with the MNLF.

Bolivar said they want to know the extent of the support that Boratong might have given to the MNLF even though the government signed a peace agreement with the rebel group in 1996.

He said they considered the possibility that the 34-year-old Maranao might have given the MNLF funding for purchasing weapons. — With Evelyn Macairan