Court tackles motions in Roldan case

The camp of former congressman and actor Dennis Roldan, the alleged mastermind in a kidnap-for-ransom case, was given 10 days yesterday to comment on the urgent motion for inhibition filed by the family of the victim against Judge Agnes Reyes-Carpio.

Carpio, of Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 261 also gave Roldan (Mitchell Gumabao in real life) the same period of time to find a lawyer to represent him following the withdrawal of his counsels Sigfrid Fortun and Karl Arian Castillo.

The judge pointed out that they have to resolve the petition for inhibition and the motion for reconsideration on the granting of bail to Roldan before proceeding to the regular hearing of the kidnapping case.

"We shall have to resolve all the motions first before proceeding to the regular hearing of the case," Carpio told lawyers from the prosecution and the defense.

In their eight-page motion to inhibit, the prosecution questioned the July 21 decision of Carpio granting Roldan P500,000 bail, saying "there is no clear proof that the evidence of his guilt is strong."

Lawyer Mario Ongkiko, representing the family of the kidnap victim, said the order, in the light of the evidence submitted by the prosecution, "leads to the inescapable conclusion that they cannot expect a fair and impartial treatment from the judge."

Ongkiko characterized the testimony of suspect-turned-state witness Albert Pagdanganan as having outlined the kidnapping plan targeting a three-year-old boy last Feb. 9, 2005 in Pasig City and having narrated in detail the participation of Roldan in the plot until the rescue of the victim in Cubao.

"She surprisingly gave little or no credence to the same without citing any reason," the lawyer stated in the motion.

He added that the testimony of Pagdanganan on the complicity of Roldan, remains "unrefuted" since the latter did not take the witness stand.

The prosecution also said Carpio chose to believe the testimonies of accused Noel Andres and Romeo Orcajada over that of Pagdanganan and three operatives of the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) team.

"Recall that San Andres’ testimony was also never corroborated by any other witness. The honorable presiding judge chose to overlook the numerous serious and material inconsistencies that plagued San Andres’ testimony," he said.

The prosecution also questioned why the judge characterized the testimonies of the PACER operatives as being "self-serving."

"Self-serving evidence means a statement, made out of court, favorable to the interest of the declarant. Is the honorable judge insinuating that the police operatives have motives other than serving public interest?" Ongkiko asked.

He said the prosecution cannot fathom the reasoning of the judge in saying that while the prosecution’s evidence so far presented does not show that the evidence of Roldan’s guilt is strong, the very same evidence proves that the other accused who were linked to the kidnapping should be denied bail.

Ongkiko said the prosecution presented the very same set of witnesses and documents to show that the evidence of guilt of all the accused is strong.

"The Honorable Court appears to have adopted double standards in weighing evidence," he said.

Aside from giving the defense 10 days to comment on the motion to inhibit, Carpio also gave Ongkiko five days to reply.

She cancelled the scheduled hearing of the case on Friday and on Aug. 22.

Roldan had asked Carpio for three to four weeks to obtain the services of a lawyer, but the judge gave him only 10 days to do so.

True to his word, Roldan, accompanied by his daughter and son, attended the hearing yesterday, but without a lawyer to represent him.

Wearing a dark polo shirt and black maong pants, Roldan was not in handcuffs for the first time while attending the hearing of the case.

When pressed what prompted his lawyers to withdraw from the case, Roldan merely shook his head. "Hindi ko rin alam kung bakit sila nag-withdraw. Naghahanap pa ako ng bagong lawyer."

The father of the victim, was accompanied in court by members of Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order headed by anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See. — Non Alquitran