Saturday, August 30, 2008 John-John will go home: lawyer
THOUGH former vice governor John Gregory “John-John” Osmeña is in the US, he will come to Cebu anytime if the court finds probable cause to indict him for allegedly coddling an illegal drug importer, his lawyer said.
But lawyer Edgar Gica said he is confident the court “will make a favorable decision” on his motion asking it to determine whether or not there was probable cause to charge Osmeña with protecting Michael Cummings and Dirk Hultz.
Cummings, an Australian, allegedly owns Coastside Ventures Inc., which was said to be the consignee of 60 drums of the shabu ingredient pseudoephedrine that illegally entered Cebu aboard a ship on March 5, 2004.
Cummings and Hultz, another foreigner, were indicted together with Osmeña.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Meinrado Paredes withdrew from handling the case after Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors filed a motion for his inhibition.
No comment
Osmeña’s camp did not comment on the motion for inhibition.
“It is improper for us to make a comment on an inhibition because it is addressed personally to the judge,” Gica said in an interview yesterday.
“We will insist that there is no probable cause. It’s up to the court to make that decision, whether it will be Judge Paredes or not,” Gica continued.
He added, though, that he did not think the DOJ prosecutors had enough bases to ask Paredes to inhibit from the case.
In their motion for inhibition, the DOJ panel of prosecutors—Taguig City Prosecutor Archimedes Manabat and Luzon-based State Prosecutors Juan Pedro and Irwin Navera—claimed that Paredes exhibited “open court bias.”
They based their motion on stenographic notes, saying the judge accused them of “speculating” during the hearing on Osmeña’s motion to find probable cause.
“A judge has all the right to ask questions and to ask the prosecution to present additional evidence,” Gica pointed out.
In granting the motion for inhibition, Paredes said it was “not well-grounded,” but he chose to do so because the prosecutors showed a “lack of respect and trust.”
Among the panel of prosecutors handling the case, though, Cebu-based state prosecutor Llena Ipong and assistant Cebu City prosecutor Nathaniel Andal refused to sign the motion for inhibition.
The cases against Osmeña, Cummings and Hultz are set to be raffled off to another judge’s sala on Monday. (KAB)
