Full Version: Kuratong Baleleng Case RE-OPENED!
any thoughts?
raggster ... about this topic ... Thank God!!!! ... We certainly don't want to go back to the dark times ... the times of the 70s ... I hope something comes out of this and justice prevails kundi all is lost in 2004 
Glad to hear that they reversed the decision. Baliw talaga si Ador!
just a few thoughts:
the original 13-0 decision in Lacson's favor was based on a technicality.
the newer decision against him was also based on a technicality.
wala lang. it seems to me that the law, or the lack of the observance thereof, is becoming the focal point of judicial decisions. or at least it's becoming so in Lacson's case.
strange.
the original 13-0 decision in Lacson's favor was based on a technicality.
the newer decision against him was also based on a technicality.
wala lang. it seems to me that the law, or the lack of the observance thereof, is becoming the focal point of judicial decisions. or at least it's becoming so in Lacson's case.
strange.
let's be honest guys, how much of this is really just spinning wheels? do you think there'll be a radically different outcome?
i don't.
i don't.
Procedural aspects of the law is ONLY secondary to the issue that is, whether Lacson et al are guilty of salvaging (the senator has a string of pending cases).
The more material point is which of these justices should have inhibited if need be.
It is a SERIOUS charge nonetheless, and the public expects Lacson to face the same with due respect to the courts.
The more material point is which of these justices should have inhibited if need be.
It is a SERIOUS charge nonetheless, and the public expects Lacson to face the same with due respect to the courts.
ay dapat lang dahil tatakbo si lacson for president noh!! mas mabuting ma-clarify yung case maige dahil marami pang lumalabas na controversies about that.
the kennedys have marilyn and chappaquidick, lacson has kuratong-baleleng.
The fact that the case has been re-opened when it should have remained closed, is proof that the justice system is still functioning, at least it's trying to be sure.
More than looking at it as a political persecution of sort, the re-opening of the case is to secure the ends of justice for the victims which include some minors.
The victims's relatives and the witnesses pushing for the re-opening must be lauded for their galiant efforts against a formidable Lacson.
The victims's relatives and the witnesses pushing for the re-opening must be lauded for their galiant efforts against a formidable Lacson.
Excerpts from a PCIJ story on LACSON's PACC
THREE years after it was set up, the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) has left a trail of bungled cases and bloody corpses.
***
Once hailed as the nemesis of crime, the agency has been criticized by judges, congressmen and human rights watchdogs as an inept investigator, careless about legal procedures and unmindful of the rights — and lives — of suspects.
***
The commission was created in July 1992, amid great fanfare and drama, when Vice-President Joseph Estrada was named the country's chief crime-buster. As PACC chief, Estrada promised to be a zealous reformer who would battle crime and sweep the police clean of rogues and scalawags.
***
The commission claims that it has since solved 53 kidnapping cases and busted 30 syndicates.
***
But an examination of case files and investigation reports of law-enforcement agencies, Congress and the Human Rights Commission CHR as well as interviews with witnesses and victims show that at least 40 people have been killed under questionable circumstances in the course of the PACC's work — an alarmingly high body count for a three-year-old agency.
***
"Most of the killings, if not all of them, are rub-outs, not shoot-outs, as the PACC has claimed," said a high-ranking NBI official who has investigated PACC killings in the last three years.
***
In the courts, despite Estrada's claims, the PACC's record is dismal: Of 53 kidnapping for ransom cases it claims to have solved, only eight have resulted in convictions. Over all, the commission lost more cases than it won.
***
Trial judges, the CHR and the House Committee on Good Government have pointed to a disturbing pattern of perjury (inducing witnesses to give false testimony), planting and mishandling of evidence, arrests and searches without warrants, and other violations of human rights.
***
In fact, PACC methods so alarmed the Supreme Court that last year, it banned the commission from arresting lawyers Diosdado Allado and Roberto Mendoza who were accused of kidnapping a British national.
***
"The facts of this case are fatefully distressing as they showcase the seeming immensity of government power which when unchecked becomes tyrannical and oppressive," the high court said.
***
But the PACC lost many cases, our investigation shows, because evidence gathered during arrests and searches without warrants are inadmissible in court. Moreover, state prosecutors said, the agency has often resorted to questionable methods and inadequate evidence to build its cases.
***
"They put a lot of premium on so-called intelligence reports from tainted sources," said lawyer Haydee Yorac. "Intelligence reports are not a statement of facts but a statement of information from people who are not infallible. They are apt to draw conclusions without benefit of solid evidence, and they are apt to release these conclusions to the media when on cross-examination, they cannot stand scrutiny."
***
Yorac witnessed for herself how the PACC built a case when she defended four bemedalled PNP officers — P/Supt.Rodolfo Mendoza Jr., P/C Insp Allen Bantolo, P/SI NSP Federico Bulanday and P/SPO1 Jesus Ramos — who were recently cleared of charges of reviving the Red Scorpion Group (RSG) and giving its members mission orders.
***
In a decision dated June 23, 1995, the National Police Commission Summary Hearing Committee upheld the validity of the mission orders as part of an intelligence project aimed at infiltrating the communist assassination squad, the Alex Boncayao Brigade. The committee also threw out the testimony of PACC officials because they were based on "hearsay and presumptions," not solid evidence.
***
THREE years after it was set up, the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) has left a trail of bungled cases and bloody corpses.
***
Once hailed as the nemesis of crime, the agency has been criticized by judges, congressmen and human rights watchdogs as an inept investigator, careless about legal procedures and unmindful of the rights — and lives — of suspects.
***
The commission was created in July 1992, amid great fanfare and drama, when Vice-President Joseph Estrada was named the country's chief crime-buster. As PACC chief, Estrada promised to be a zealous reformer who would battle crime and sweep the police clean of rogues and scalawags.
***
The commission claims that it has since solved 53 kidnapping cases and busted 30 syndicates.
***
But an examination of case files and investigation reports of law-enforcement agencies, Congress and the Human Rights Commission CHR as well as interviews with witnesses and victims show that at least 40 people have been killed under questionable circumstances in the course of the PACC's work — an alarmingly high body count for a three-year-old agency.
***
"Most of the killings, if not all of them, are rub-outs, not shoot-outs, as the PACC has claimed," said a high-ranking NBI official who has investigated PACC killings in the last three years.
***
In the courts, despite Estrada's claims, the PACC's record is dismal: Of 53 kidnapping for ransom cases it claims to have solved, only eight have resulted in convictions. Over all, the commission lost more cases than it won.
***
Trial judges, the CHR and the House Committee on Good Government have pointed to a disturbing pattern of perjury (inducing witnesses to give false testimony), planting and mishandling of evidence, arrests and searches without warrants, and other violations of human rights.
***
In fact, PACC methods so alarmed the Supreme Court that last year, it banned the commission from arresting lawyers Diosdado Allado and Roberto Mendoza who were accused of kidnapping a British national.
***
"The facts of this case are fatefully distressing as they showcase the seeming immensity of government power which when unchecked becomes tyrannical and oppressive," the high court said.
***
But the PACC lost many cases, our investigation shows, because evidence gathered during arrests and searches without warrants are inadmissible in court. Moreover, state prosecutors said, the agency has often resorted to questionable methods and inadequate evidence to build its cases.
***
"They put a lot of premium on so-called intelligence reports from tainted sources," said lawyer Haydee Yorac. "Intelligence reports are not a statement of facts but a statement of information from people who are not infallible. They are apt to draw conclusions without benefit of solid evidence, and they are apt to release these conclusions to the media when on cross-examination, they cannot stand scrutiny."
***
Yorac witnessed for herself how the PACC built a case when she defended four bemedalled PNP officers — P/Supt.Rodolfo Mendoza Jr., P/C Insp Allen Bantolo, P/SI NSP Federico Bulanday and P/SPO1 Jesus Ramos — who were recently cleared of charges of reviving the Red Scorpion Group (RSG) and giving its members mission orders.
***
In a decision dated June 23, 1995, the National Police Commission Summary Hearing Committee upheld the validity of the mission orders as part of an intelligence project aimed at infiltrating the communist assassination squad, the Alex Boncayao Brigade. The committee also threw out the testimony of PACC officials because they were based on "hearsay and presumptions," not solid evidence.
***
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