Jalosjos not jolly

 I agree with the suggestion of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol that convicted child-rapist ex-Congressman Romeo Jalosjos should sue Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Raul Gonzalez if the government fails to honor the release order he earned from the commutation of his jail term. This was after Jalosjos has threatened to file arbitrary detention charges in court against jail officials should he not be released from prison by tomorrow.

I just don’t know if Apostol made this suggestion to Jalosjos to sue Gonzalez out of spite. As we may recall, Apostol figured earlier in a word war of sort with Gonzales on the controversial release from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinlupa City of one of the convicted soldiers in the Aquino-Galman double murder case — former Avsecom Master Sgt. Pablo Martinez.

Martinez was deemed qualified for presidential pardon due to his being 70 years old already, and is terminally ill with cancer, as among the conditions set forth under Memorandum Circular (MC) 155 issued by President Arroyo in November 2004. As expected, there was public outcry, especially from the family of the slain ex-Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. when Martinez was granted executive pardon and released last month from NBP.

Following the adverse reaction over this presidential pardon to Martinez, the DOJ Secretary naturally defended Mrs. Arroyo from her critics and went on to say that if he would have his way, the 13 other soldiers convicted in this celebrated case are also qualified as candidates for executive clemency for having been imprisoned for more than two decades already and that some of them are also sickly and old. Gonzalez, who once served as one of the private prosecutors for the Aquino family during the Aquino-Galman double murder case, made this suggestion obviously out of genuine concern. He himself just got out recently from a life-threatening surgery that removed one of his kidneys.

The Palace was dragged into shrilled indignation over these public statements by the DOJ Secretary who, of course, like any other Cabinet official, speaks and act as “alter ego” of the President herself. As the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel of the Palace, Apostol took up the cudgels for the embattled Arroyo administration, citing that the DOJ Secretary was merely expressing his personal opinion on this issue. Apostol wisecracked that the DOJ Secretary was apparently speaking boldly nowadays that the latter has “three kidneys” in a light-hearted jab at his fellow Cabinet official.

Not to be outdone by his compañero, Gonzalez riposted that Apostol should brush up with his thick Visayan “accent” before he pokes fun at his sick kidney. This was in obvious dig at Apostol’s much caricatured “wetness” mis-pronunciation of the word “witness.” Actually, Gonzalez and Apostol are the best of friends and former colleagues at the House of Representatives.

This rather friendly fire between the two legal eagles of President Arroyo might recur with the latest tirades of Apostol as an offshoot of the questioned shortening of a double life imprisonment for Jalosjos. But it is unfortunate if innocent people would become victims in the crossfire of this buck-passing and blame-tossing in the aftermath of the highly questioned release of Jalosjos. 

In the middle of this brouhaha are retired Generals Vic Vinarao and Ricardo Dapat, the former and incumbent directors, respectively, of the Bureau of Correction. The two are now being investigated why Jalosjos got hold of a copy of his “Certificate of Discharge From Prison” which the latter invoked in claiming he is now a free man. By virtue of this official document, Jalosjos and his supporters in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte were ready to celebrate his return to “freedom land” at the stroke of 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16. 

Interviewed by DzBB radio station yesterday, I heard Vinarao explained that he recommended the re-computation of the commuted jail term of Jalosjos after the former Congressman became qualified for a reduced sentence. Vinarao submitted this in a first endorsement, dated June 17,  2006 and received by the office of the DOJ Secretary in June 19. However, Vinarao said the DOJ Secretary did not act on his recommendation until he retired from the BuCor more than seven months ago. The former BuCor director said he has all the documents to prove these. A lawyer himself, Vinarao insisted there was nothing irregular or illegal in the grant of commutation of the sentence of Jalosjos based on existing penal laws.

Conducting his own inquiry into the matter, Vinarao disclosed he found out that his original letter that recomputed the jail term of Jalosjos was used as basis by NBP to reiterate to the office of the DOJ Secretary that the convicted ex-Congressman is due for release Dec. 16, 2007. As to how Jalosjos was able to secure his release order, Vinarao said Dapat, as the incumbent BuCor should be the one to explain why they acted without getting first the approval of the DOJ Secretary.

Two  weeks ago, it was NBP chaplain Fr. Roberto Olaguer who broke the news to media that Jalosjos would soon be freed from prison. Then all hell broke loose when Jalosjos indeed stepped out of NBP as a free man, as if he is really staying inside NBP. Jalosjos even celebrated his “release” by attending a “simbang gabi” inside the NBP chapel.

The DOJ Secretary stepped in, timely enough to stop Jalosjos after being alerted about it. Gonzalez noted that the certificate in the hands of Jalosjos was only a xeroxed copy of the original release order. Thus, the DOJ Secretary wants to find out who in the NBP gave Jalosjos this xeroxed copy.

Jalosjos has been in prison for almost 12 years after his sentence was commuted by Malacañang last April to just 16 years, three months and three days. According to Gonzalez, while the President commuted the jail term of Jalosjos, the original idea is that the convicted ex-Congressman could only be freed when he turns 70, and thus qualify to MCC155. Jalosjos, who is 66 years old, would have to cool his heels until then. For now, there is nothing for Jalosjos to be jolly about!