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By James Konstantin Galvez, Reporter
Former governor Antonio Leviste
of Batangas on Wednesday refused to enter a plea when he was
arraigned for the murder of his long-time associate last January.
The 67-year-old Leviste arrived
at Branch 150 of the Makati Regional Trial Court accompanied by half
a dozen armed jail guards.
Leviste is accused of killing
Rafael de las Alas following an argument in Leviste’s office in
Makati.
The proceedings were delayed for
about an hour as Leviste’s lawyers, led by Manuel Singson, sought
to postpone the arraignment, citing their pending motion before the
Court of Appeals.
Leviste’s lawyer is questioning
Judge Elmo Alameda’s decision to grant the recommendation of
Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco to upgrade the charge from
homicide to murder.
But Alameda ruled in favor of the
prosecution and ordered the arraignment to proceed.
“I refuse to make a plea due to
our pending motion before the Court of Appeals,” Leviste said when
asked by the court for his plea.
The court entered a not guilty
plea on his behalf.
During a five-minute recess,
Leviste approached a group in the gallery from the Volunteers
against Crime and Corruption who attended the hearing in support of
de las Alas’ family.
“Do you know what you are
doing? Do you want to pick a fight?” Leviste told the group led by
Honey Herosa.
When the proceedings resumed
Velasco told the court about the incident. Herosa was allowed to
speak but before she could finish Leviste cut her off and asked
again if she and her group knew what they are doing.
He also lashed out at Velasco
after the prosecutor asked the photographers in the courtroom to
identify themselves.
Velasco had said a certain
Dominador Llanes was taking photographs of the VACC group supposedly
on Leviste’s order.
“Stop what you’re doing, I
will get even,” Leviste shot at Velasco.
“I want to be professional. I
came here in court trying to be professional. All I want is for the
accused to explain why he is threatening me,” Velasco replied.
To restore order, Alameda asked
the prosecutor to put his complaint in writing.
In an interview outside the
courtroom, Leviste said Velasco went beyond his role as a
prosecutor.
“I’m very sad for Dina de las
Alas [the victim’s daughter] for being so greedy and allowing
herself to be used by legal bounty hunters. I am very sad for
Prosecutor Velasco for not knowing that he is beyond the bounds of
his role as a prosecutor. I am very sad for the state of our legal
system for letting people suffer. I’ve seen so many at the Makati
City Jail,” said Leviste.
Velasco denied he is seeking
publicity at the expense of the accused. “I am not a
publicity-seeker. I am just transparent to the media since every
case should be made transparent to the public,” he said.
During the bail hearing, the
prosecution presented the first two of its 15 witnesses, Senior
Insp. Elizalde Odi of the Southern Police District’s Scene of the
Crime Operatives and evidence custodian Maria Luisa Bocayan.
Odi headed the SOCO team that
went to the crime scene on the 9th floor of the Leviste-owned LPL
Tower and recovered the evidence such as Leviste’s .380 pistol and
de Las Alas’ own .9-mm pistol.
Odi testified the safety catch in
that de las Alas’ gun was on, boosting Velasco’s argument that
the victim was not able to fire nor retaliate.
Leviste said he shot de las Alas
in self-defense. The prosecution maintains that Leviste and several
people used “treachery, cruelty and evident premeditation” in
shooting de las Alas.
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