Fearing Judge Dredd

PROSECUTOR, JUDGE and, God forbid, executioner.

That is how the Honorable Divina Luz P. Aquino-Simbulan, executive judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Third Judicial Region, comes out in some charge sheet filed in the mind of detained real estate developer Delfin S. Lee. Some Judge Dredd, in that Stallone movie and British comic book there.   

This, after the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan wrote RTC Branch 42 Presiding Judge Maria Amifaith S. Fider-Reyes where Lee’s case is docked, of “advises that the appropriate Court Order” by the latter be issued “directing the transfer of accused Lee” from the Pampanga Provincial Jail to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Barangay Telabastagan, City of San Fernando.

Meticulous and methodical, the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan built up her case for Lee’s transfer on the grounds of: 1) “anonymous letters affecting Lee”; 2) “a small gym (with bench press) in the vacant cell adjoining the cell where… Lee was incarcerated”; 3) alleged Lee’s bodyguard Kenneth Nicdao goes on daily duty from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the provincial jail; 4) “information from RTC Zumba instructor Marlon Sumala that… Nicdao…threatened to kill or hurt him”; 5) “questions arise as to the security measures existing at the Pampanga Provincial Jail where even incidents of illegal drugs infiltration have been reported.”

These, the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan herself established through periodic inspections at the provincial jail.

These, the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan concluded as manifest of the “special treatment” Lee is getting at the provincial jail.

And so, in the name of equal justice for all, he should be moved to another, less accommodating, jail?        

Why, the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan is even doing Lee a favor with his transfer to the Telabastagan jail as his lawyer Atty. Willie Rivera holds office in nearby Balibago, Angeles City. Easily dismissed a non-sequitur given Rivera’s preparation for the city vice mayoralty race which rendered him inactive in Lee’s defense.

So thoroughly methodical was the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan that she already obtained the assurances of BJMP officials led by Supt. Rufino M. Santiago, Jr. and District Jail Warden Roy Regacho that “they can secure accused Delfin Lee” in Telabastagan.

Injudicious

Not exactly Hamlet’s method to the madness but injudicious lapses Lee perceived in the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan’s actions.

One. Since when did anonymous letters become grounds for judicial truths?

Two. Since when did a single bench press become a gym? Besides, that press belongs to the jail.

Three. The Honorable Aquino-Salgado herself said in her letter to the Honorable Fider-Reyes that the name of alleged Lee bodyguard Nicdao does not appear in the jail logbook for visitors, thus: “Nicdao does not even log thereat.”

How could she write then that Nicdao goes on daily 8-to-5 duty for his boss?

Four. What has Lee got to do with the “information” of Sumala that Nicdao threatened to kill him?

Five. Security measures at the provincial jail as to “incidents of illegal drugs infiltration” are the responsibilities of the warden.

Last time I look, the warden of the provincial jail is named Edwin Mangaliman, not Delfin Lee who is in jail for alleged syndicated estafa and not for drug trafficking.

The above arguments duly noted in Lee’s Omnibus Motion filed by his lawyer Rony Garay to prevent his transfer to Telabastagan.

Moreso, Lee holds the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan as having “already pre-empted any action” of the Honorable Fider-Reyes who “is yet to act on the said advice”

This, with the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan already “coordinating” the transfer of Lee with the BJMP officials without waiting for the Honorable Fider-Reyes court’s action.

Per Lee’s motion, the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan’s efforts could have violated Rule 114, Section 3 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure, to wit: “No person under detention shall be transferred except upon lawful order of the court.”

Even worse, Garay said, is the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan’s basis for her “advice” which he said were “pure surmises, conjectures and hearsay.”

So much for the persecutor, er, prosecutor and judge roles. Now to the, God forbid, executioner’s part.

Given the absence of “direct allegations or claims of special treatment” in favor of Lee, Garay said, his transfer would “trivialize and trample upon his constitutional right” of being presumed innocent until the contrary is proven.

Dared him: Should the executive judge insist on the transfer, then the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan “be required to execute a written personal undertaking to secure the safety of his client and if ever he is physically harmed at the BJMP Telabastagan, any consequence shall be the personal liability of the executive judge.”

Extreme prejudice

In effect, Garay was saying Delfin Lee’s blood would be in the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan’s hands. And she is not even the one hearing the case of Lee!

Wow! Is it just me or do we see some perversion of justice here? Of what was used to be called “termination with extreme prejudice” beyond the bounds of the courts? Indeed, of some Judge Dredd?

"I now strongly feel that the move to transfer me to a jail where I would be vulnerable is related to my earlier statement that once the Supreme Court dismisses my case, I will go out to expose all the anomalies I know against (Vice President Jejomar) Binay." So was Lee quoted as saying by a recent visitor.

In his expose before the Senate, read by his lawyer, Lee said the case against him was pursued by Binay after he rejected the demand of the vice president for P200 million and also to implicate former Vice President and former Pag-IBIG Fund Chairman Noli de Castro in a housing scam.

Lee alleged that the extortion attempt was coursed through one Gerry Limlingan and that both demands were made during Binay’s first months as head of the Home Development Mutual Fund.

“If this happened to me, it can happen to any legitimate businessman or ordinary person. We are all subject to the whims and caprices of Binay, especially when he becomes, fate forbid, the president of this country,” furthered Lee, not so cryptically. His message loud and clear.

Politics, as long clichéd, is the art of the possible. Murder, not excluded.

And Philippine jails are never wanting in incidents where inmates are unceremoniously, if routinely, executed even before any conviction is promulgated.

Be afraid Delfin Lee, be very afraid.