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FORMER Justice Secretary Hernando Perez and his
co-accused asked the Sandiganbayan to defer the serving of the
warrant of arrest issued against them.
In a five-page urgent
manifestation, Perez and his spouse, Rosario, pleaded before the
Sandiganbayan not to effect the arrest warrant since they have a
pending petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.
On Monday, the High Court
deferred action on the petition filed by Perez and his wife seeking
to stop the Ombudsman from proceeding with the graft charges against
them.
The Manila Times learned from a
court insider that the High Court’s Third Division, which is
handling the case of Perez, will not hold sessions starting today
and will resume only in June.
The First Division of the
Sandiganbayan, chaired by Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, is
now handling one of the two graft charges filed against Perez in
connection to the $2-million extortion charge filed by former Manila
Rep. Mark Jimenez, which stemmed from the controversial IMPSA power
deal. The other graft case is with the Fourth Division chaired by
Justice Gregory Ong.
Peralta already ordered to effect
the arrest of Perez and his co-accused, which also include Ramon
Arceo and Ernest Escaler.
The robbery-extortion cases of
the accused are with the Sandiganbayan Second Division while the
falsification of public documents case against Perez is with the
Third Division.
At the High Court, the resolution
on the case of Perez was promulgated April 23 but was released only
Monday. The resolution also asked the Sandiganbayan to comment on
the petition of Perez.
Perez filed his original 63-page
petition for certiorari last April 18, pointing out that Jimenez
already withdrew the case against him.
Perez also alleged that the
Ombudsman acted in excess of its jurisdiction and abused their right
to procedural due process, when it recommended the filing of
criminal charges against them, after sitting on the case for five
years since 2002.
--Jomar Canlas And
William B. Depasupil
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