|
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Put Ecleo back in jail, OSG asks Court of Appeals
By Grecar A. Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The Office of the Solicitor-General (OSG) has asked the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision allowing former mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. to post bail and, instead, send Ecleo back to prison.
In a 21-page motion for reconsideration, the OSG, through John Emmanuel F. Madamba and Grace P. Chavez-Ty, said Regional Trial Court Branch 23 Judge Generosa Labra’s ruling to release Ecleo was premature and erroneous.
They said the case records showed there was no definite finding that Ecleo was seriously ill or that he would die soon if he is detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).
Ecleo is out on P1-million bail, on account of his allegedly failing health. He faces a parricide charge over the death of his wife Alona in 2002.
The prosecution, however, has questioned the bail ruling and the case is still pending before the appeals court.
The OSG argued that Labra should not have granted bail to Ecleo, since Dr. Walter Acusar, who examined him, categorically said he could not make a definite assessment on Ecleo’s health if the former mayor refused to undergo a coronary angiogram.
Essential
In this procedure, a thin, hollow tube is inserted through the aorta until it reaches the heart’s arteries. A special dye is then injected, and X-rays are taken to detect if any of the coronary arteries are blocked.
Acusar had testified in court that a coronary angiogram is essential in determining whether Ecleo was suffering from any heart ailment.
Without that procedure, Acusar told the court there was no way a doctor could say that Ecleo was a “walking time bomb.”
“The question may arise: is the accused really sick and ready to `drop dead’ anytime so as to be entitled to the liberality of the court in granting temporary liberty?” the solicitor-general’s office asked.
“As it was, (Ecleo) took unscrupulous advantage of his feigned sickness as a convenient excuse for his entitlement to bail for ‘medical/health reasons’,” it added in its motion.
Abuse
The OSG also noted that when Ecleo filed the petition for bail before Judge Labra’s sala, he never complained of any ailment. It was only upon receiving the order denying his petition for bail that Ecleo said he was sick.
The OSG also argued that Judge Labra and RTC Branch 18 Acting Judge Anacleto Caminade, who issued the release order to Ecleo, committed grave abuse of discretion by disregarding the “material facts and evidence,” in violation of the prosecution’s right to due process.
“Based on the testimony of Dr. Acusar, there was obviously no basis for both respondent judges to conclude that (Ecleo) was suffering, as of yet, from a serious heart ailment as to render him a ‘walking time bomb,’ as described by his counsels,” the OSG said in its motion.
The OSG asked the appeals court to enter a new ruling, nullifying the grant of bail to Ecleo and immediately sending him back to the BBRC.
In the same motion, the OSG also apologized to the appellate court for failing to file the petition themselves and not participating in the earlier proceedings.
The rule states that only the OSG can represent the “People of the Philippines” in cases in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.
(September 17, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
