Can a senator criminally charged with plunder be suspended from office?
By motion. In the litigated criminal case in the Sandiganbayan. (that is, after the Information or formal criminal charge is filed in the Sandiganbayan. After arrest. After arraignment. A senator’s detention prevents him/her only from physically attending, but you could say that technically, he/she is not necessarily legally suspended from office without any order from the court or a body with jurisdiction).
After motion, the other party may oppose. There will be a hearing on the motion. Then the court will grant or deny or dismiss the motion. If the court grants the motion, it will serve the order on the Senate.
(Can the Senate do this thru proceedings in its ethics committee? The Senate is free and authorized to conduct its own proceedings. But this is separate and distinct from the plunder case, it is not part of the plunder case, it is not the ancillary remedy contemplated by law in the plunder case.)
The Ombudsman has promised, under oath (during the budget hearing) that she will complete the preliminary investigation inside of a year.
The better policy and tactic now is to concentrate on building up the case against her (for plunder or otherwise) – focus on gathering the primary documents:
•contracts,
•vouchers,
•checks,
•deposit slips,
•transaction slips,
•bank statements,
•photos,
•videos,
•and other documentary evidence cited by the witnesses and by the COA report;
and object evidence: equipment, infrastructure, vehicles, real and personal properties, until the evidence is more than enough for a primafacie case – instead of relying on wild talk of her possible offer of testimony.
You will need to secure documents and witnesses from the banks and the clearing houses. Fast. Now. Important.
Don’t get distracted.
— To be charged with a public official or public officials if for plunder (without prejudice to forfeiture proceedings). And, oh, important: don’t forget to add “John Does” when you craft the complaint; or as what other lawyers do in other criminal cases, you can put: “John Doe, Juan P. Doe, Bong Doe, Bongbong Doe, Jinggoy Doe, Greg Doe, and other John and Jeanne Does”… more important, make sure your Information (formal charge), and not just the complaint, contains John Does.
Make sure the Information complies with all the elements and all the terms of the criminal statute – plunder requires a series of predicate acts that are also criminal in nature, spell out what those overt acts are — open the statute books when you’re crafting the Info (do not copy and paste), make a back-and forth- and refer every line to it — even if you think it’s perfect, show it to other criminal trial experts and CPA-lawyers; the Information (formal charge) will make your case rise or fall in the preliminary motions and throughout the presentation of evidence…
