Lawyers of Gloria Arroyo Election Case
Veteran lawyer Jose Flaminiano and his law office on Monday withdrew their appearance as counsels of former President and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the electoral sabotage case before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Aside from Flaminiano, the other members of Arroyo’s legal team in the electoral sabotage case, who have also withdrawn, were Jay Bernardo Flaminiano, Allan Duenas and Laurence Hector Arroyo.
Arroyo formally announced their withdrawal during Monday’s hearing of the case at the sala of Pasay RTC Branch 112 Presiding Judge Jesus Mupas.
But he denied they were abandoning the former president in her legal battles adding that the move was done so that they could focus on other charges pending before the Sandiganbayan.
He said it was Arroyo herself who instructed them to focus on the cases pending before the anti-graft court.
“Mayroong tatlong kaso na nasa Sandiganbayan, so inutusan kami ng dating Pangulong Arroyo na hawakan yun and dun na mag-concentrate. This is more of a legal strategy para hindi mahati ang atensyon namin (There is three case in Sandiganbayan, the former President order us to concentrate on that case. This is more legal strategy so our attention will be focused on the three cases),” Arroyo said.
The 64-year old Arroyo faces charges for violations of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the botched US$ 9-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp..
Also charged with Arroyo in the NBN-ZTE case were former Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and former Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Secretary Leandro Mendoza.
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