Tag: National Bureau of Investigation

Criminal law, News, Rules of Court, tweets

People vs. Janet Lim-Napoles Sept 9 arraignment: Legal Scenarios

People vs. Janet Lim- Napoles for serious illegal detention. News peg: DZMM reported that the accused filed an urgent “Motion for a Bill of Particulars” in this case at 4pm today.

        The following are the pertinent provisions on the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure on this:  

“Rule  116 Arraignment and Plea. Section 9.            Bill of particulars. — The accused may, before arraignment, move for a bill of particulars to enable him properly to plead and to prepare for trial. The motion shall specify the alleged defects of the complaint or information and the details desired. (10a)

      “Section 10. Production or inspection of material evidence in possession of prosecution. — Upon motion of the accused showing good cause and with notice to the parties, the court, in order to prevent surprise, suppression, or alteration, may order the prosecution to produce and permit the inspection and copying or photographing of any written statement given by the complainant and other witnesses in any investigation of the offense conducted by the prosecution or other investigating officers, as well as any designated documents, papers, books, accounts, letters, photographs, objects or tangible things not otherwise privileged, which constitute or contain evidence material to any matter involved in the case and which are in the possession or under the control of the prosecution, police, or other law investigating agencies. (11a)

       “Section 11.      Suspension of arraignment. — Upon motion by the proper party, the arraignment shall be suspended in the following cases:

       “ (a)The accused appears to be suffering from an unsound mental condition which effective renders him unable to fully understand the charge against him and to plead intelligently thereto. In such case, the court shall order his mental examination and, if necessary, his confinement for such purpose;

        “ (b)There exists a prejudicial question; and

         “(c)A petition for review of the resolution of the prosecutor is pending at either the Department of Justice, or the Office of the President; provided, that the period of suspension shall not exceed sixty (60) days counted from the filing of the petition with the reviewing office. (12a)”

 

     A motion for a bill of particulars is filed by an accused who thinks that the Information (formal charge) against him/her is too general. In other words, the accused wants to find out from the prosecution: What overt acts in detail are you charging me with and what evidence do you have against me? This is based on the right of the accused to be informed of the charges against him/her, or to be informed of the particularities of the overt acts he/she is accused to have committed.

      The arraignment is on Sept. 9; if the Court grants the urgent “Motion for a Bill of Particulars” before Sept. 9, the prosecution must  file the bill of particulars asked for on or before Sept. 9. If the Court does not act promptly on the motion or, if  the Court grants and the prosecution complies,  but the accused is not satisfied with the bill of particulars , the accused on Sept. 9  may either move for a suspension of the arraignment (reset or defer) on grounds of a prejudicial question under Sec. 11 (abovequoted).

       If a motion for suspension is denied right there and then, and the accused is compelled to enter a plea, the accused may refuse — the court would then order that a plea of “not guilty” be entered for the accused.

      Motions, motions. Act on the motions before Sept. 9, okay?

     I haven’t seen the Information (formal charge) for serious illegal detention filed against Janet Lim-Napoles, and therefore would have to refrain from giving an opinion on how detailed or how general it is. 

Criminal law, media law, The News Media

it would be interesting to find out whether the NBI can locate an anonymous blogger

Photo print by Eric Kamp right-clicked from allposters.com used here for non-commercial purposes under terms of free blog-use by said site

Quote “Blogger faces libel charge for item on relief goods

By Julie M. Aurelio

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 22:50:00 01/21/2010 in:

Blogger faces libel charge for item on relief goods

Filed Under: Crime, blogs

Quote “MANILA, Philippines–A blogger who wrote about relief goods stored in a warehouse that allegedly did not reach victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” last year has been charged with libel for the malicious accusations on her website.

Quote “In a referral letter to the Quezon City prosecutors office, the National Bureau of Investigation filed the libel complaint against the blogger upon the request of then Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, the new health secretary.

Quote “The NBI identified the female blogger, who claimed to be a book author using the aliases “Jade Ceres Dolor,” “Jade Ceres Violet Dolor,” and “Ella Rose delos Santos.”

Quote “Cabral asked the NBI last year to investigate the identity of the blogger after reading a blog entry entitled “Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo (What good is help that comes if it is too late),” posted on ‘Blog ni Ella’ on Oct. 21, 2009.

Quote “The former social welfare secretary claimed the blog entry contained “malicious imputations against her, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and its employees.”

Quote “ “The article alluded that she and the DSWD employees are corrupt, having diverted donated goods for personal gain at the expense of the typhoon victims and downright incompetent,” the NBI said in its referral.

Quote “The blog contained uploaded photos of imported blankets and mats donated by foreign agencies stored in the warehouse. The blogger said they were not included in the relief bags she and fellow volunteers were asked to pack. The NBI learned that one of the volunteers who helped in the repacking was “Ella delos Santos.”

Quote “Delos Santos was subpoenaed by the NBI to give her side of the story and to take a polygraph test, but the NBI said the woman did not appear on the scheduled dates. It also checked with the hosting company of the domain name http://www.ellaganda.com and found out that the hosting contract with “Ella Rose delos Santos” or “Ellaganda” has been terminated since December 2008.

Quote “Another check with the publishing company which allegedly published the blogger’s book revealed that Ella and Jade “are one and the same person,” based on the way the assistant editor e-mailed the blogger.

Quote “Cabral earlier claimed the items were not rotting as the blogger alleged. The NBI noted that the blogger never visited the warehouses, and that it was another person who took the pictures that were uploaded in the blog.

Quote “ “If Dolor is sincere in bringing out the alleged corruption concerning the distribution of relief goods, she should have requested an investigation from the Office of the Ombudsman or any law enforcement agency,” the NBI said. Closed-quote.