Court junks plea to drop kidnap raps vs Tiamzon couple

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court has denied the appeal of alleged Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon to dismiss the kidnapping case filed against them.

Judge Madonna Echiverri of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 dismissed the couple’s motion to set aside their arraignment on charges of kidnapping with serious illegal detention.

Echiverri said the defense must wait for their trial to justify that their alleged acts were committed in furtherance of a political act.

Defense counsel Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers said they would study the filing of a motion for reconsideration of the court’s order.

“We stand by our position that the arraignment was rushed,” Olalia said.

The Tiamzons filed in April a 20-page omnibus motion that sought the dismissal of the charges against them.

They said the charges should have been absorbed in the rebellion case against them that was dismissed by the Supreme Court on June 1, 2007.

“The separate prosecution of the cases must no longer be allowed. They should have been terminated with the dismissal of the rebellion case in Makati by the high court,” the motion read.

The case against the Tiamzon couple stemmed from the alleged kidnapping of Lieutenants Clariton Santos, Oscar Singson, Rommel Salamanca and Abraham Casis of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as well as Sgt. John Jacob of the Philippine Narcotics Command in 1988.

The Tiamzons refused to enter a plea during their arraignment on April 8, prompting the court to enter a not guilty plea for them.

The judge set the pre-trial hearing on Aug. 11.