Kaban ni D_BystandeR: WALA MAKAPAKITA SI GWEN???
Suspended governor Gwendolyn Garcia was a no-show in a court hearing scheduled (3/21/13)at Sandiganbayan Second Division in connection with the P98.9 million Balili land purchase.
If she doesn't satisfactorily explain her absence today (3/22/13), she risks being placed under arrest. Her principal lawyer Tranquil Salvador III promised the graft court he would bring Garcia on Friday. This didn't stop Associate Justice Teresita Diaz Baldos from ordering the issuance of another arrest warrant against Garcia for her failure to appear and the confiscation of the P90,000 bail bond for her first arrest warrant issued last year after charges were filed. In contrast, the Judge accepted the request of three other respondents to defer their arraignment to May. During arraignment, an accused must personally appear in open court and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. This stage starts the process of a criminal trial.
After arraignment, the Sandiganbayan may also consider issuing an order of preventive suspension if evidence of guilt is strong or there is a proven risk that evidence would be tampered or witnessed would be intimidated. Justice Baldos said Garcia has to explain her absence when she appears today but maintained that the processing of the arrest warrant will continue and that the court will decide on this day whether the order will be revoked. Garcia is facing two counts of graft and one count of technical malversation of funds for the questionable purchase of Balili property in Naga City by the Cebu provincial government in 2008. Garcia's Manila-based lawyer, Salvador told ABS-CBN that they had asked the Sandiganbayan 10 days earlier to defer her arraignment date. Their request was denied, and they followed up with a motion for reconsideration, which was also turned down. Yesterday, he (Salvador) read aloud in court a letter of Garcia explaining her prior commitments in Cebu - - - a graduation in Ginatilan Elementary School, in Balamban, the blessing of a congressional headquarters in Argao town, an assembly of barangay officials in Asturias town.
If she doesn't satisfactorily explain her absence today (3/22/13), she risks being placed under arrest. Her principal lawyer Tranquil Salvador III promised the graft court he would bring Garcia on Friday. This didn't stop Associate Justice Teresita Diaz Baldos from ordering the issuance of another arrest warrant against Garcia for her failure to appear and the confiscation of the P90,000 bail bond for her first arrest warrant issued last year after charges were filed. In contrast, the Judge accepted the request of three other respondents to defer their arraignment to May. During arraignment, an accused must personally appear in open court and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. This stage starts the process of a criminal trial.
After arraignment, the Sandiganbayan may also consider issuing an order of preventive suspension if evidence of guilt is strong or there is a proven risk that evidence would be tampered or witnessed would be intimidated. Justice Baldos said Garcia has to explain her absence when she appears today but maintained that the processing of the arrest warrant will continue and that the court will decide on this day whether the order will be revoked. Garcia is facing two counts of graft and one count of technical malversation of funds for the questionable purchase of Balili property in Naga City by the Cebu provincial government in 2008. Garcia's Manila-based lawyer, Salvador told ABS-CBN that they had asked the Sandiganbayan 10 days earlier to defer her arraignment date. Their request was denied, and they followed up with a motion for reconsideration, which was also turned down. Yesterday, he (Salvador) read aloud in court a letter of Garcia explaining her prior commitments in Cebu - - - a graduation in Ginatilan Elementary School, in Balamban, the blessing of a congressional headquarters in Argao town, an assembly of barangay officials in Asturias town.
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