Court drops Comelec motion to suspend GMA hearing

MANILA, Philippines - Pasay City Judge Jesus Mupas has set aside, for the second time, the motion of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) seeking to suspend the hearing of the electoral sabotage case filed against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because the poll body’s lawyers will be busy preparing for next year’s elections.

Mupas, during yesterday’s pre-trial proceedings, set two schedules for the hearing of the case in March and April next year,  a month before the midterm polls.

Pampanga Rep. Arroyo, former election officer Lintang Bedol and former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. are facing poll fraud cases in connection with the 2007 senatorial election.

Comelec lawyers told the court that they would be rendering full-time duty as election officers nationwide, and that the whole legal department will be busy. They informed the court that the witnesses they would be presenting are mostly election officers who will also be deployed in Mindanao.

However, Arroyo’s counsel Benjamin Santos objected to the motion, saying the election is not a valid ground for the suspension of the trial.

“We are invoking the constitutional right of the accused for a speedy trial, ” Santos said.