We, the political prisoners collectively known as the Tagaytay 5, vehemently
protest the biased postponement of our bail hearing last July 4, 2008 at the
Tagaytay RTC Branch 18 upon the prosecutor’s manifestation that they have to
prepare their witnesses.
We are outraged by this deliberate dilatory tactic of the City Prosecutor with
the conspicuous advice of the PNP lawyer, despite very explicit order from the
Honorable Judge Edwin G. Larida, Jr. last June 16, 2008 to give “utmost priority
to this case”, and despite the fact that the witnesses for the prosecution were
present at the courtroom last July 4.
We are extremely dismayed by this unwarranted delay in the presentation of
evidence, when the court already ordered at around 9:30 am of July 4, 2008 that
the hearing will resume at 1:30 pm after the Prosecutor arrogantly asserted that
they are ready with their presentation of witnesses. So dismaying is the fact
that by 11:30 am, after two hours of waiting, we were informed that the
afternoon hearing is postponed. Even our lawyers were informed of the
postponement at around 1:30 pm only.
It becomes too obvious then that the City Prosecutor’s assertion of preparedness
for the said hearing was just a façade to conceal the fact that they need more
time to scrounge for more witnesses and manufacture credible evidences so as to
win a conviction, which they failed to achieve after two years and two months of
preparation for this “legal offensive”.
It is really outrageous that we the accused, prepared assiduously for this time
of reckoning called “our day in court”, only to be derailed by a very flimsy
excuse at the very first engagement.
We can only suspect that there are more powerful, more “knowledgeable” and more
interested forces that are surreptitiously operating to railroad the conviction
of the poor, deprived and innocent prisoners. That in order to win this
conviction, they need to coach more their witnesses – about the rehashed lies,
rehearsed truths, scripted half-truths and half-lies. This is the same Office of
the City Prosecutor which prevented the presentation of evidence during the
preliminary investigation of the two accused among us; and during several
hearings for our motion to quash. And the same prosecutor who was persistently
insisting on a speedy arraignment as early as August 2006.
This was the same victorious prosecutor who forced us to be arraigned last June
16 – and had all 18 days to prepare his witnesses till our first bail hearing,
but ridiculously move for a postponement when “our day in court” came!
Ariel Custodio
Axel Pinpin
Aris Sarmiento Political Prisoners
Camp Vicente Lim
Calamba City, Laguna 4029
Philippines
July 6, 2008
