Luisito Gonzalez's saga

Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina is emerging as one of the country’s most controversial members of the bench and we really feel sorry for her. She may have been caught in a row between two of the country’s most prominent families which may have triggered perceptions that she has refused to give a person who has been declared innocent by two superior courts his freedom.

Judge Bunyi-Medina, it will be recalled, had earlier stepped into the this controversy when she issued last year a warrant of arrest against Quirino clan scion Luisito Gonzalez and family driver Antonio Buenaflor following the death of Gonzalez’ step-brother, Federico Delgado of the Delgado business clan.

There were perceptions that the warrant was based on a “flimsy excuse” simply because the lady judge had not elaborated the basis for the arrest. Maybe, those who criticized her warrant had failed to appreciate that its issuance was her “discretion”.

Now she is in the spotlight again. This time, questions are being raised as to why she appears to have snubbed the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court following her most recent actuations. The CA has ordered the charges against Gonzalez and Buenaflor quashed and dismissed. The SC has affirmed the CA decision. So, why has Judge Bunyi-Medina so far refused to set the two free, people are asking.

Is this an outright defiance of the CA and SC by a trial court judge?

We can’t say since we are not a legal expert. But we can only sympathize with Judge Bunyi-Medina: the absence of logic behind her refusal to set two innocent men free appears to have caused a major damage to her reputation.

This is not the first time Judge Bunyi-Medina is finding herself in the midst of a major controversy involving the freedom of certain individuals.

It will be recalled that she also came under fire from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) last year after she allegedy caused the transfer of KMP deputy secretary-general Randall Echanis from the Philippine National Police custodial center to the Manila City Jail. The move was branded as a “mafia-style and highly irregular transfer” by the peasant group which was allegedly done in veiled secrecy.

In the current controversy fueled by her continued detention of Gonzalez and  Buenaflor, the judge is apparently under fire because her move defies logic and because the trial court is inferior to both the CA and the SC.

If that is the case, how can a trial court judge continue to hold in detention two persons whose innocence have been affirmed by both the CA and the SC?

The CA junked the charges against Gonzalez and Buenaflor because of what it said was the absence of credibility of the lone witness, the girlfriend of the late Delgado scion. The CA also considered the testimony of almost 30 witnesses who testified that Gonzalez was at a hospital facility at the time of the supposed murder – and that he could not have breached the tight security of the said facility.

In affirming the CA’s decision to quash and dismiss the charges against Gonzalez and Buenaflor, the SC noted that the period during which a motion for reconsideration can be filed has been made to lapse by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), and that a subsequent appeal filed by the siblings of Delgado was invalid.

Despite these, both Gonzalez and Buenaflor have been kept under lock and key. Why she insists on keeping them in jail baffles many.

There are reports that a motion for reconsideration has been filed in connection with the SC’s ruling and that Judge Bunyi-Medina is probably banking that the SC would still change its mind on the innocence of the two. Maybe, the good judge has a basis for her hope for an SC change of mind. But until such change of mind is made – if it ever comes – shouldn’t the two innocent men be given their freedom?

Otherwise, can Judge Bunyi-Medina please tell the people how long she intends to keep the two innocent men in jail and how she intends to justify that continued deprivation of freedom?

We wish we can come to Judge Bunyi-Medina’s defense in the face of the snowballing public ire against the perceived injustice against Gonzalez and Buenaflor.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves also confused.

So, we hope Judge Bunyi-Medina could help us clarify the issue soonest. If she ever does, we hope she would dispense with the legal gobbledygook. There is nothing the public would appreciate more than a straightforward answer.

Not so hidden agenda

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