Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Sumabong’s lawyer quits case
AFTER appearing at the NBI headquarters last week and standing by Joel Sumabong when the latter was presented to the media, Rameses Villagonzalo is Sumabong’s counsel no more.
In a move that surprised not only a fellow lawyer but even some NBI agents, Villagonzalo yesterday withdrew as Sumabong’s counsel for the robbery case pending before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12 in Cebu City and in the murder case before the RTC Branch 61 in Bogo, Cebu.
The lawyer seems to have taken offense at Sumabong’s earlier move of hiring another lawyer, Leilani Villarino, to represent him in the murder case he is facing along with the P9.4-million Land Bank robbery charge.
Villagonzalo has said he “earlier assisted” Sumabong in the murder charge.
Court records, however, show Villarino to be the only lawyer. She prepared Sumabong’s counter-affidavit to the Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor.
Villagonzalo informed the media of his plan to withdraw as Sumabong’s lawyer a day ahead of the filing.
“After sleepless nights of in-depth analysis regarding the development of events, although non-privileged in character, (I) now seriously doubt (the) accused’s trust and confidence in (me),” Villagonzalo wrote.
In his motion, he discussed getting blindsided in some aspect of the case—not getting informed that Sumabong posted bail and that Sumabong hired Villarino.
He said he knew about the bail a week after Sumabong got released.
As to the murder case, he said he wrote Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Lolita Lomanta to ask if a subpoena had already been issued and didn’t get a reply.
Villarino, in a separate interview, admitted to feeling slighted that Villagonzalo is “making it appear that I stole his client.” She said Sumabong had long been her client and that she served as his only counsel in the murder case.
NBI agents confirmed this.
“We knew Atty. Villarino represented Sumabong in the murder case. We even asked her to facilitate his surrender but she said she honestly didn’t know where he (Sumabong) was,” one agent said.
“How can he withdraw from the murder case when he has not submitted any appearance as counsel?” another asked.
Villarino went to the NBI office on the afternoon that Sumabong was presented to the public and spoke to Sumabong outside the latter’s detention cell.
“I asked him if I was still his counsel because I heard that Atty. Villagonzalo had dropped by earlier and he said he still wanted me to represent him in the murder case,” she said.
Sumabong, interviewed at his detention cell yesterday, confirmed this.
Villarino represented Sumabong in the two murder complaints filed against him following his Feb. 6, 2006 extra-judicial confession before the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
The first murder case impleaded Sumabong, Dindo Ancero, who is also named in the Land Bank robbery case, Efren Billadas, Felix Albores and Clemente Besavilla for the killing of Joenes Burlaos. It was dismissed.
The second impleaded Sumabong, Billadas and one Rufino Versaga Jr. for the killing of one Alberto Tepait. It was this case that got upgraded into a formal criminal case and raffled off to RTC 61.
Villarino said she took the case after Ancero, whose counter-affidavit for the robbery case she had prepared as a favor for a friend at the CIDG, asked her to be his lawyer and that of all other co-accused in the murder charge.
She said she knew Villagonzalo handled the robbery charge but she never bothered about it because both cases were unrelated and had different hearing schedules.
“If only Atty. Villagonzalo bothered to read the records of the case, he would readily see the fact that I am the counsel on record,” she said.
Villagonzalo left Sumabong a parting gift, though.
He filed a motion to have him transferred to the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center and a separate motion seeking a suspension of the murder case hearings.
He wants Sumabong out of NBI custody and away from Henry Cuerda, a co-accused in the robbery case who has since turned state witness and is now in NBI hands.
He also wants the murder case transferred to Cebu City, as what he had done for the robbery charge, citing security.
Sumabong has tagged Bogo Mayor Celestino Martinez III has the mastermind of the robbery, a charge that Martinez has denied and which the CIDG has cleared him of.
“I appreciate what Atty. Villagonzalo has done. I will wait for the court to act on it. I will not withdraw it. It is a very sound move. It ultimately benefits the client,” Villarino said. (JGA/KNR)
