‘MJ’ wants GMA-appointed SC justices out of his case

He wants them off his case.

Manila sixth district Rep. Mark Jimenez, who is fighting off imminent extradition to the United States for a string of criminal cases, has belatedly asked the Supreme Court to nullify the votes made by four justices appointed to the tribunal by President Arroyo.

Through his new lawyer, University of the Philippines Law School dean Froilan Bacungan, Jimenez said the votes of newly appointed SC Justices Conchita Carpio-Morales, Romeo Callejo, Renato Corona and Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez "should not be counted."

The four were among the eight SC justices who voted to cancel Jimenez’s P1-million bail bond and ordered Manila Judge Guillermo Purganan to issue a warrant for Jimenez’s arrest and detain him while the extradition case against the legislator is pending.

Purganan is the Manila regional trial court judge hearing the extradition case against the neophyte Manila congressman.

On Sept. 24, the SC voted 8-6 to send the former ally of deposed President Joseph Estrada to prison while the lower court finds out whether the US request for Jimenez’s extradition complies with the existing RP-US extradition treaty.

Jimenez seems to be batting for a 6-4 vote in his favor by seeking to have the votes of the four magistrates nullified and the justices directed not to take part in the deliberations in his case anymore. A 6-4 vote will still be valid, as this is still a majority vote.

In a 24-page supplemental appeal, Bacungan said the four presidential appointees to the high tribunal, as culled from records, did not take part in the deliberations on the Jimenez extradition case and were not even present during the crucial oral arguments on it on Aug. 12, 2001.

Martinez and Corona were named to the SC on April 12, while Morales and Callejo were appointed to the tribunal on Aug. 26. "The Constitution requires that only those who participated in the deliberations on the issues can vote," Bacungan said.

"Since the oral arguments took place in August 2001, the justices appointed after said date could not have heard or listened to such oral arguments," Bacungan said as he insisted on the jurists’ "compulsory disqualification" from voting on the case.

Bacungan invoked Article 8, Section 4 (2) of the 1987 Constitution which categorically states that a case pending before the high tribunal should "be decided with the concurrence of a majority of the members who actually took part in the deliberations on the issue."

"The Constitution has carved out the parameters for reaching a decision. This provision excludes those members of who did not take part in the deliberations in the determination of a quorum," Jimenez’s lawyer said.

The other justices who voted that Jimenez is not entitled to post a bail bond are Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and Justices Artemio Panganiban, Vicente Mendoza and another presidential appointee, Antonio Carpio.

Of the six minority magistrates, three — Jose Vitug, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez — voted to grant Jimenez bail.

Three remaining magistrates — Reynato Puno, Josue Bellosillo and Leonardo Quisumbing — voted to send the Jimenez extradition case back to Purungan’s sala.

On Nov. 6, Justice Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez and State Counsel Claro Flores asked the 15 SC justices to compel Purungan to issue a warrant for Jimenez’s arrest so the Manila legislator can be turned over to US authorities.

Jimenez, 56, faces four counts of tax evasion worth $3.5 million, two counts of conspiracy and wire fraud, six counts of false statements and 33 counts of illegal campaign contributions to former US President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection bid.

The offenses were allegedly committed between September 1994 and March 1998. A warrant for Jimenez’s arrest was issued in April 1999 by Judge Robert Dube of the US District Court of South Florida.

The Department of Justice said Jimenez is a flight risk because he escaped the US and hid in the Philippines when he learned that he had been indicted and was the subject of an arrest warrant.