Jalosjos to SC: I’m very poor now

From riches to rags? A reversal of fortune?

Being the wealthiest inmate that he was, holding lavish birthday parties every year in the New Bilibid Prisons, convicted child rapist and Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos declares he is now a very poor man and that he can no longer hire a lawyer.

Jalosjos thus asked the Supreme Court yesterday to allow him to represent himself in his appeal for a reversal of the tribunal’s Nov. 19 ruling, which upheld the double life term the Makati court had imposed on him for the child abuse case.

Jalosjos was convicted by Makati Judge Roberto Diokno in December 1997 for raping an 11-year-old girl in June 1996. He has since been serving his sentence at the National Penitentiary.

Jalosjos asked the High Court to allow him to act as his own counsel and admit his attached motion for reconsideration because he can no longer afford the services of a lawyer.

Aware that he may not be permitted to file the necessary pleadings because he is not a lawyer, the 60-year-old Jalosjos clarified that he is "assisted by volunteer lawyers" in the preparation of his motion for reconsideration.

Jalosjos became even more controversial in 1999 when an investigation showed that he put up a hamburger store, a 584-square-meter tennis court, 53-square-meter resthouse and a customized water tank at the National Penitentiary and even had TV sets and a treadmill in his cell.

He is also known in the National Penitentiary to be the only inmate who has celebrated his birthday with extravagance, distributing lechon (roasted pig) and roasted calves to some 9,000 inmates at the maximum security compound.

During his 58th birthday in 1999, a number of showbiz personalities graced his party. The guests even had the opportunity to enjoy ballroom dancing.

Jalosjos appealed to the 15 Supreme Court justices to "take a second look" at his case in view of his overwhelming re-election to Congress last May 14, saying that if at all, what he committed was just an act of lasciviousness and not rape.

"It is not for this court, by reason of such fault or misconduct, to practically overrule the will of the people," he said, lifting a quote from the High Court’s ruling in the Linares vs Hechanova case.

He added: "No rape in the manner as found by this Honorable Court, but if at all, only acts of lasciviousness were committed on the person of the private complainant."

In his 39-page appeal, Jalosjos likened his case to that of Capt. Dreyfuss of France. "The same milieu infected the case of the accused-appellant (Jalosjos)," his motion stated.

"Accused of committing a felony, the case against him (Dreyfuss) was taken up by a frenzied press which left no stone unturned to ensure his conviction. Yet years later, when Dreyfuss could no longer effectively act in the service of his country, he was vindicated and found innocent," it added.

Jalosjos said he was just the subject of a trial by publicity by the tri-media which "falsely accused and wrongly convicted" him.

He said he was "prosecuted on a public outcry based on slanderous pronouncements of an agitated media, fanned by lawyers riding on the crest to gain prominence, and convicted despite existing facts consistent with (my) innocence."