Friday, March 07, 2008
Lawyers thrown out in hearing of admin case vs. gov’t official
IT was supposed to be a preliminary hearing on an administrative investigation against a government executive.
But if the complainant’s lawyers are to be believed, they were thrown out of the hearing venue, a room at the Parklane Hotel, even before yesterday’s proceedings could begin.
In the end, all lawyers Ann Militante and Myrna Limbaga could do was walk away with their client, lawyer Perla Centino, and their first witness, Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba.
Centino earlier filed a criminal complaint for sexual harassment against her former boss at the National Transmission Corp. (Transco), lawyer Noel de Leon.
Per provisions of Republic Act 7877, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act, Transco created a Committee on Decorum and Investigation (Codi) to look into the administrative angle of the complaint.
The committee, composed of Transco officials Dominador Geonzon, Venusto Hamoy Jr., Eric Cariaga, Roxene Rosario, Chemarine Maliksi, lawyer Eduardo Padilla and Belen Banzon, met yesterday to hear the testimony of Centino’s first witness - Petralba.
The Codi members, sitting as one body, took the role of hearing officer during the proceeding. There was a designated prosecutor, lawyer Noel Damot, while lawyer Julio Briola sat as defense counsel for De Leon.
According to Militante and Limbaga, they entered the hearing room at around 1 p.m. yesterday. They were with Centino and Petralba, with Centino introducing them to the Codi as her lawyers.
Appearance
Geonzon, who chaired the committee, then spoke to ask if they already entered their appearance. Limbaga replied they would be doing so orally as soon as the proceeding formally begins.
Amy Ouano of the Legal Alternatives for Women (Law) Inc. was also present, they said. And, it was she who identified to the Codi Petralba as their first witness.
It was at this point that Geonzon allegedly asked to leave the hearing room and wait outside, purportedly to discuss with the other members if Centino, the private offended party, should be allowed to have her own lawyers, aside from the designated Transco prosecutor, Damot.
Step out
The lawyers, together with Petralba and Law Inc.’s Ouano, stepped outside and waited. Centino stayed inside.
Thirty minutes after, Militante and Limbaga said, Centino went out and informed them that Codi had allowed her to have one lawyer present.
They said they discussed it and decided to argue that the private offended party, as in any criminal proceeding, is allowed legal representation and no law exists limiting the lawyer to only one. Centino went back inside to present the position.
Fifteen minutes later, they said, a staff member of the Codi gave them a “hand signal” indicating that the two of them were to come inside the hearing room. Ouano and Petralba were to remain outside.
“But as soon as we went in, we were given this look and gesture that meant we weren’t supposed to come in,” Limbaga said.
Militante, for her part, said she told the Codi that somebody had gestured them to come in, to which Geonzon apologized and asked to them to step out once again.
Crying
“15 to 20 minutes after, Perla (Centino) came out crying,” Militante said.
Centino, in an interview, said she tried to convince the Codi that as the private offended party, she had a right to legal representation.
The Codi, she said, already agreed but Briola manifested that if Centino is allowed counsel, he’d be contending with two protagonist camps, Damot for Transco on one side and Militante and Limbaga on the other.
Centino said this pushed to the point of exhaustion while sitting across the person she complained against.
She said she took the mike and told her she will be bringing her case to the Women’s Commission instead. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 7, 2008 issue)
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