Saturday, February 09, 2008 Motion for inhibition vs. Econg stalls Ecleo case hearing anew
THE hearing on the criminal case against Ruben Ecleo Jr. was stalled anew.
One was set yesterday but the proceeding got deferred because of a motion the prosecution panel submitted seeking Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Geraldine Faith Econg’s immediate inhibition.
Lawyers Fred Sipalay and Kit Enriquez, two of the private prosecutors handling the case, said Econg has lost “the appearance of impartiality” in the way she has been handling the case.
Cited as example was the way she allegedly gave “free rein” to the defense when they cross-examined prosecution witnesses but “reined in” prosecutors when they cross-examined defense witnesses.
140 pages
So much so, Enriquez and Sipalay pointed out, that the transcript of stenographic notes made of the cross-examination on one witness, a doctor, reached 140 pages long.
“The cross-examination lasted two hearing dates,” Sipalay revealed.
Moreover, Enriquez said, Econg also shows a habit of sustaining the objections of the defense citing basis that the defense lawyers did not raise.
“The court has limited the prosecution in their cross-examination of defense witnesses. It has not only sustained frivolous/canned/repeated objections of the defense, it even sustained objections not on the grounds made by the defense but ‘on a different ground’. And When the prosecution is on a momentum in their cross-examination of defense witnesses, the court repeatedly orders them to limit their questions,” they lamented.
Econg was ready to rule on the motion for inhibition, filed last Feb. 4 yet, during yesterday’s setting.
However, defense lawyer Orlando Salantandre asked and was granted a 10-day extension to submit his comment to the motion.
Offhand, he said in open court, they intend to oppose the motion for inhibition, adding that cross examination has its limits and that the court has “discretion” in whether or not to sustain objections and why.
Very smooth
“The proceedings were coming along very smoothly,” he pointed out.
Of course Salatandre considers the proceedings to have proceeded smoothly,” Sipalay and Enriquez countered in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu. “He is getting favorable treatment.”
One such favorable treatment, they also pointed out, is Econg’s alleged act of sitting on a motion they filed last April 10, 2006 yet.
The motion, they added, sought for an examination of Ecleo’s supposed heart condition, the main reason he was granted bail even though the case against him was for alleged parricide.
“The court just sat on the prosecution’s motion to examine and determine (Ecleo’s) health – which could lead to the cancellation of (Ecleo’s) bail if it is found that the accused has no significant heart ailment,” they said in the motion.
“It has been two years (one year and 10 months to be exact) since the prosecution filed their April 10, 2006 motion,” they added. (KNR)
