Senate can’t stop senators’ arrest

MANILA, Philippines - There is nothing the Senate can do to stop the arrest of three of its members for plunder if warrants for their arrest are served in the chamber, Sen. Francis Escudero said yesterday.

Escudero explained that Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. – indicted for plunder and other criminal charges in connection with the pork barrel scam – can be arrested on Senate premises and suspended automatically once plunder charges are filed against them with the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.

He said they can only be spared from arrest if the penalty for their alleged offense is imprisonment of less than six years. Plunder is punishable with life imprisonment.

Escudero said the Senate would have no choice but to abide by any court order to have the three senators arrested.

But he does not expect any ruckus or theatrics to accompany the possible serving of arrest warrants on the senators as the process server – or the one serving the warrant – is likely to observe some courtesy in performing his task.

He said the process server – accompanied by members of the Philippine National Police – is expected to inform the Senate sergeant-at-arms in advance of the serving of the warrants as a matter of courtesy.

The sergeant-at-arms would then inform the Senate president so that the process would be done in an orderly manner.

If the serving of warrant is made in the middle of plenary session, the process server would probably just wait for the session’s adjournment before doing his job.

Escudero said that it would be up to the courts to decide where to have the three senators detained.

He said he would support the grant of some courtesy for the three senators, considering that they are elected officials.

“But courtesy given to them should also be given to ordinary persons accused of crimes,” Escudero said.

He said that the Senate as an institution can raise appeals to the court if it so decides, but any decision would still be with the courts in the end.

No disruption

If ever the senators are suspended, Escudero said the work of the Senate would not be affected.

As far as quorum is concerned, Escudero said the rule is determined based on the number of senators officially on active duty.

This means that senators who are officially out of the country or suspended would not be counted for the quorum.

Even for the ratification of treaties, which requires at least 16 votes, Escudero said that this would not be affected because the Senate would still have 21 senators if the three are suspended.

In the case of the committee chairmanships, Escudero said that the vice chairman of the respective committees could take the place of the suspended chairman.

As for the staff of the concerned senators, Escudero said their work should not be affected since their principals would merely be suspended and not removed from office.

Revilla, for his part, cautioned Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales against resorting to legal shortcuts by pushing through with the filing of charges against them.

Revilla earlier claimed to have received information that the administration was rushing the filing of charges against them so they could be arrested immediately.

He denounced what he said was an attempt by De Lima and Morales to skip legal proceedings by fast- tracking the filing of charges against them.

Estrada earlier claimed that he was denied due process by the ombudsman when the latter denied his camp’s request for the affidavits of various individuals, including those of new whistle-blower Ruby Tuason, Dennis Cunanan of the Technology Resource Center and Department of Budget and Management undersecretary Mario Relampagos.

Revilla said he suffered the same treatment as Estrada and was not given the chance to sufficiently give his response to all of the allegations made against him.

“When we filed a motion to be furnished copies of the sworn statements and other alleged pieces evidence submitted by Dennis Cunanan, Gondelina Amata, Alexis Sevidal, and many others, all of which were used by the ombudsman against us, we were denied. They said there was no cogent reason to furnish us,” Revilla said.

“If they do that, our legal system would now be open to more abuses by the ones who were supposed to be entrusted to uphold the law, like the Department of Justice and the ombudsman,” he said. “What’s the use of following the law? Let’s just sue each other when a new administration comes in.”

Revilla said that his rights are being violated and that what is being done to him is political persecution.

He also denounced what he described as unethical behavior of De Lima when she personally talked to alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim- Napoles and secured her statement on what she supposedly knows about the scam.

Revilla said that this was a clear violation of the Canon of Judicial Ethics.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she expects the ombudsman would deny the motions for reconsideration filed by the three senators.

“As a former RTC judge, I take the humble opinion that the separate motions did not present any new evidence or any new argument. Therefore, like most courts do with pro forma motions for reconsideration, the ombudsman should consider them as sham, dilatory and frivolous,” Santiago said.

Once the ombudsman denies the motions, Santiago said the next step is to file the complaints with the courts.

“Automatically, the filing of the complaints will trigger the issuance of warrants of arrest,” she said.

Santiago said that although plunder is non-bailable, the accused would be allowed to file motions for bail, to determine whether the evidence of guilt is weak or strong.

If the evidence is strong, Santiago said the accused would be denied bail and would have to stay in jail. Santiago is at loggerheads with Enrile over many issues.

“I humbly urge the Sandiganbayan court to hear the motions for bail in a summary procedure, so that if evidence of guilt is strong, the accused shall be held in detention as soon as possible to prevent them from going AWOL or engaging in terrorist tactics to distract the public,” Santiago said.

Meanwhile, Escudero said there was no reason for the PNP not to heed the order of the court to bring Napoles back to her detention facility now that her medical procedures at the Ospital ng Makati are complete.