New Judge Elmo Alameda of RTC Makati
Branch 150 held a clarificatory hearing from 8:50 to 10:30 a.m. on
several pending legal incidents, issues and motions of the rebellion
case. This is the first hearing in this court. He ordered this hearing
as a “further inquiry to enable the court to resolve them (motions etc.)
with accuracy.”
After five months, Judge Alameda is the
4th judge to handle the rebellion case after:
1) Judge Lyn Delorino of Branch 137
inhibited herself upon motion of the DOJ;
2) Judge Renato Quilala of Branch 57
consolidated one criminal charge (06-944) with the one pending before
Judge Encaranacion Moya of Branch 146 (06-452);
3) Judge Moya also inhibited herself
belatedly after “discovering” that one of the Accused (Atty. Christopher
Belmonte) is a “personal friend and close associate” of hers but only
after she had already found probable cause against Ka Bel (note that
Belmonte was already part of the charge from the very start)
Two criminal charges (“Informations”) for
rebellion are pending before Judge Alameda:
1) 06-452 against Lt. Lawrence San Juan
and Ka Bel and
2) 06-944 against Batasan 5, some NDFP
panel members and consultants and several others (49 in all including
the late Sotero Llamas)
Present during the hearing were State
Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco and three women state prosecutors from the
DOJ for the State
Present for the defense were lead counsel
Romeo Capulong for Beltran, Satur Ocampo, Joel Virador, Rey Casambre;
Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno and Ernesto Francisco for Vicente Ladlad and
by way of special appearance for Randall Echanis; Edre Olalia for
Nathanael Santiago; Rachel Pastores for Teddy Casino; Amy Sato for
Rafael Mariano; Alnie Foja for Liza Maza
Accused present were Beltran, Ocampo,
Casino, Maza, Mariano, Ladlad, Santiago, and Casambre
Judge Alameda said he will prioritize
resolving the Accused’s motions to suspend proceedings ahead of the
other pending legal incidents and motions. Accused invoke the status quo
order of the Supreme Court and prejudicial questions as their grounds.
Defense through Capulong stressed that the suspension of the court
proceedings takes precedence and must be done immediately.
Prosecution argued that they are
not bound by the status quo order as they claim it only refers to the
preliminary investigation which is already finished and not the court
proceedings. Defense through Capulong and Diokno said this is not
correct as the Supreme Court expressly says that the status quo must be
maintained and that the Order came after the Supreme Court has known
that the case is already in court.
Judge Alameda tried to elicit pointblank
from the Prosecution what will happen to the legal proceedings in the
Makati RTC should the Supreme Court nullify the preliminary
investigation the Defense is questioning. Prosecutor Velasco hedged and
skirted the issue, saying they don’t know what will happen. Capulong
volunteered and plainly said that if the Supreme Court does so, then all
the legal proceedings will be an exercise in futility in the Makati RTC
and hence, the RTC court proceedings must be stopped in the meantime.
Defense reiterated their motions for
reconsideration of the consolidation of the two criminal cases from
Judges Quilala and Moya and raffled into one court (Alameda’s) on the
ground that it is improper and an abuse of discretion. Judge Alameda
believes that the order consolidating the cases is an exercise of
discretion of another court that he cannot disturb. Capulong says that
Branch 150 and Branches 57 and 146 belong to the same RTC Makati and can
therefore rule on it. Defense said it would not insist on the ruling but
reserves its right to avail of other remedies.
The case of Beltran (06-452) is not
covered by the status quo order of the Supreme Court and therefore, his
motion for reconsideration of the finding of probable cause can be ruled
upon by the court. Judge Alameda was able to elicit a lot of telling
admissions from the Prosecutor through the manifestations of Capulong
including the following, among others: that Beltran was arrested at
first for inciting to sedition and not rebellion; that there is an
affidavit of arrest for the first case and none for the second case;
that the first case violated his parliamentary immunity and that a QC
court found this and ordered his release; that they submitted only one
set of evidence and not 10 as he claims; that Judge Marella (pairing
judge of Judge Delorino) asked the prosecution to submit further
evidence to prove probable cause etc. The Defense maintained the arrest
of Ka Bel was illegal and the inquest was flawed.
Hence, the court will first rule on the
motion to suspend proceedings in 06-944 and the motion for
reconsideration on the finding of probable cause against Beltran in
06-452. All other incidents like motions to admit amended information,
motion to quash, motion to judicially determine probable cause in
06-944; motions to hold in abeyance issuance of warrants of arrest;
motion to issue hold departure order will depend or await the resolution
of the motion to suspend proceedings.
If the proceedings in court are
suspended, then the resumption of the hearings and trial on the case
will await the final resolution of the Supreme Court of the Petitions of
the Accused questioning the preliminary investigation in the DOJ. If the
proceedings are not suspended, then a lot of legal tangles and remedies
will intervene but the hearings and the resolution of the other
incidents will have to proceed.
