Posted: 10/15/2012 3:30 pm
In July we pondered whether and to what degree former Philippine President Arroyo's release on bail would be indicative of the eventual verdict in the electoral sabotage and plunder charges against her. We also wondered to what extent public perception of the prosecution's evidence in both cases will ultimately stand or be torn apart by a combination of evidentiary weakness, a corrupt judiciary, or both. In a country where the legal and judicial culture is allergic to pre-trial discovery and habitually backslides into court-enforced fishing expeditions or the marshaling of evidence during trial, it may still be that the element of surprise is the rule in the Philippines, and transparency the exception.
Following eight months of hospital arrest, the regional trial court -- a court of plenary jurisdiction -- released Arroyo on bail in July, on the ground that the evidence in the electoral sabotage case against her was "weak." But on Oct. 4, the Sandiganbayan -- the specialized anti-graft court where her plunder case is pending -- issued an order again placing her under arrest. Arroyo's defense attorneys immediately moved for a bail hearing, and to place her, as before, under hospital arrest, instead of in a regular detention facility. This bail hearing is slated for Thursday this week.
While media circles are quick to point out that Arroyo was "rearrested," this can be misconstrued to mean that the same judge simply changed his mind, which isn't the case. "Plunder" and "electoral sabotage" are distinct offenses under Philippine criminal statutes which require different venues and courts. If one were to stay close to the law-in-the-books, one criminal case ought to have no bearing upon the other. But the two cases have naturally become politicized -- so much so that black letter statutes and fine print criminal procedure may be bent, depending on a judge's own political persuasion and/or inclination toward self-promotion.
A conviction in just one of the charges will carry years (if not decades of imprisonment) for Arroyo, but a disaggregated judicial system such as that of the Philippines may bode well for the prosecution for the simple reason that the cases are severable: If the government were to fail in knocking down the accused in one charge in one court, it may still resort to case building for another charge under a different judge. In Arroyo's electoral sabotage case, where she has been on bail since July, the discretion of only one ordinary trial court judge was at stake, whereas the plunder cases are under the Sandiganbayan (roughly translated as the "People's Advocate" under the local vernacular). Unlike ordinary trial courts, the Sandiganbayan is a specialized collegial court, equivalent to an appeals court, and consists of 14 associate "justices" and one "presiding justice." One can thus make a case that the recent arrest order had gone through greater deliberative scrutiny than the July bail order, with the latter issued by a lone judge.
On the count of plunder, Arroyo was charged with plundering the national treasury by diverting Php 316 million (approximately $7.5 million) from the funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Arroyo is also facing a second plunder charge which alleges that she unduly intervened in a state contract with the Chinese firm ZTE Corporation -- a contract involving the national broadband network. Whereas in the electoral sabotage case pending before the ordinary courts, Arroyo is accused of conspiring with officials in Mindanao, the southern region of the country, of rigging the 2004 and 2007 national elections.
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These are today's Suertres/Swertres Lotto tips; Yesterday's results are at the bottom
122
367**
368**
356**
038*
138
578
779
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567**
057**
457**
358
789
278*
Yesterday's Philippine PCSO Draw Results
For October 15, 2012 Monday
EZ2 Lotto
Morning 11am: 23-01
Afternoon 4pm: 01-15
Evening 9pm: 23-30
Winning numbers in exact order
Php 4,000.00 per 10 peso play
Suertres Lotto Luzon Vis-Min
Morning 11:00 am: 3-9-7
Afternoon 4:00 pm: 0-2-2
Evening 9:00 pm: 3-9-1
Winning numbers in exact order
Php: 4,500 per 10 peso play
4Digit Luzon & Vismin
9pm: 6-2-3-4
Winning numbers in exact order
Mega 6/45 National Lottery
36-40-39-33-26-42
Current Jackpot: Php 4,500,000.00
(0)winner
Winning numbers in any order
Grand 6/55 Lotto
34-54-08-25-07-47
Current Jackpot: Php 73,243,018.80
(0)winner
Winning numbers in any order
For best results, it is suggested to always employ rumble on the tips above.
* = Hot Numbers
** = Very Hot Numbers
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