State Lawyers to Help Prosecute GMA

Sec. Leila de Lima names four state prosecutors to assist in prosecuting Arroyo, Abalos, Ampatuan and Bedol for electoral sabotage

Comelec asks DOJ for assistance in the electoral sabotage case filed against former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and others

Four state prosecutors will assist the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in handling the case on electoral sabotage the poll body filed against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other people for rigging the 2007 senatorial election. This was according to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima.  

The Comelec en banc released a resolution on January 18 which authorized the Department of Justice to help in prosecuting the said case against Arroyo and the other key personalities charged.

“(The) DOJ prosecutors are considered deputized by the Comelec and, for purposes of the prosecution of the said electoral sabotage cases, shall be under the direct control and supervision of the Comelec through its prosecution team,” stated De Lima.

The Comelec prosecution panel shall be assisted by Assistant State Prosecutor Mari Elvira Herrera, Associate Prosecution Attorneys Gerard Gaerlan and Mark Roland Estepa, and Assistant City Prosecutor Orlando Mariano. They will be under the supervision of the poll body. The prosecution team shall be headed by Commissioner Christian Robert Lim.

The Supreme Court has a ruling that allows the Comelec to ask assistance from government agencies in prosecuting electoral offenses under the Omnibus Election Code. The poll body cited this ruling in their resolution.

The Comelec resolution also stated that the high court stresses the importance of the DOJ prosecutors to guarantee a “prompt and fair investigation and prosecution of election offenses.”

Arroyo, ex Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., and ex-election supervisor Lintang Bedol were all charged by the poll body on Nov. 18, 2011 for supposedly conspiring to change the 2007 senatorial election results in some parts of Mindanao so as to favor the Team Unity candidates who were backed by Arroyo. There were two other people who were also charged by the Comelec in the same case.

Arroyo has denied the said charges.

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