Joker: I’m not Binay’s lawyer

In his column, Introspective (STAR, Feb. 12, 2015), Mr. Tony Katigbak asked questions which require answers, among them, “Why is Joker Arroyo backing Binay now despite all the allegations (against him). Does he know something we don’t know?”

Mr. Arroyo wrote Mr. Katigbak his reaction on February 18, 2015, as follows:

“I am not Jojo’s or Junjun’s lawyer in the Blue Ribbon hearings and I am in no position to say whether they are guilty or not of the charges against them in light of the way the hearings are conducted.

“My concern is simple and straightforward. The Blue Ribbon sub-committee hearings are an egregious affront to every established standard of the Rule of Law, the Due Process and the Equal Protection guarantees under the Constitution. I have pointed this out as early as five months ago in “My Appeal to Revisit the Blue Ribbon Committee Rules,” published in the STAR’s September 4, 2014 issue, addressed to the Senate, to revisit its Rules “unblinkered by the prism of the Binay case.” This, under the cautionary advice that ‘Celebrated cases make poor law.”

“The Senate is perilously veering towards a legislative martial law. The Blue Ribbon hearings are fast becoming more martial than the military commissions were during the dreaded martial law years. That trend must be aborted before it becomes commonplace and accepted by usage.

“With every good wish, I am.”

 — ABIGAIL HINTO, Legislative Staff, Office of former Senator Joker P. Arroyo