Letter of Court Administrator Midas Marquez to Malaya re Wikileaks report on SC justices and Mariano Nocom.
This was in his Sept. 2006 cable which was one of those recently released by Wikileaks website.
I didn’t get a response to my text messages to Edu. I was told he is out of the country. Maybe he does not want to be disturbed.
The reason why I was calling Edu was because a friend in the Supreme Court told me that true, Nocom has protectors in the High Court, but as far as he knows it is not former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban.
Eugenio was one of the three judges assigned to handle IPR cases in Metro Manila. The cable stressed the significance of that assignment:
“As the only one of the three judges with executive authority, Judge Eugenio’s position carried special powers including the ability to issue warrants within a 24-hour period for any jurisdiction in the country.
“Non-executive judges can only issue a warrant once the case has been assigned to them, a process that can take several days to several weeks, increasing the risk of information leaking with respect to potential arrests. In addition, they are limited to issuing warrants within their jurisdictions.”
Jones further said, ““Since Judge Eugenio could issue warrants expediently for any jurisdiction in the country, he was receiving the majority of warrant applications for violations of IP laws.”
Manzano, Jones said, filed almost all of its warrant applications with Judge Eugenio because they could be assured of prompt action.
In late July, the Supreme Court rescinded Judge Eugenio’s executive authority, reassigning him to another court and stating that he would no longer handle IPR cases, Jones reported to Washington D.C.
Jones said that according to Manzano, a number of the warrants issued by Judge Eugenio resulted in a series of raids by the OMB at malls owned by an influential Filipino-Chinese businessman, Mariano Nocom.
But Jones also gave another version of the maneuvering inside the High Court which is supported by the info I got from my friend the other day: ““The regional representative of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) described a slightly different version of events, which he said is based on reliable information from a contact who was directly involved in the process. In this version, Nocom plays golf with two members of the Supreme Court and exerted influence through them for Judge Eugenio’s demotion.
“According to MPAA, all Supreme Court justices voted in favor of the decision except for the Chief Justice, who reportedly abstained.”
My friend also said the reason why Eugenio was removed as Executive Judge was because he issued “hundreds” of search warrants in one day which was unusual because before a judge could issue a search warrant he is supposed to physically interview the witnesses and examine the evidence. It was impossible for Eugenio to have done that.
My friend said the investigation on Eugenio is still pending.
Another lawyer friend, who knows Eugenio, cautioned me : “He is not a saint.” He also told me the connection of Nocom in the High Court and it’s not Panganiban.
As to Nocom’s background’s blogger Tongue-twisted sent this info: “Mariano Nocom is well-known in Pasay. He owns many prime real estate and developed properties including the Fiesta Duty-free Shop and an airfreight complex in Ninoy Aquino Ave., the Esplanade restaurant strip at the back of Mall of ASIA where the pyrotechnics contests are held, the New Dampa in Macapagal blvd., and many other large parcels along the Manila Bay reclamation area from Pasay all the way to Cavite.”
These new info is a reminder for us not to take as gospel truth everything mentioned in the U.S. Embassy cables exposed by Wikileaks. They provide good leads. That’s the beauty and the value of Wikileaks.
Ellen, an aside: Last Sunday, I was at Greenhills Shopping Center and I saw this sign right at the entrance: “There are no fake, counterfeit or pirated products on sale here.”
This, amidst all the fake LV, Hermes, Coach, etc. Hahahaha!
we have a very modern mall right in the epicentre of China town aptly named Pacific Mall, where all things pirated were being sold..the cops mingled with consumers patronizing the business, (mostly Cops of Chinese Descents)until they established with evidence who were the Big Fishes and in one swoop, made a major raid and arrests…of course legal look alike (imitations) are allowed, jewellery sunglasses but must not carry the brand names…but intellectual Rights, copyrights violation for profit is still a major crime…
Hundreds of warrants? Grave abuse nga, apparently. But it does not wash Ellen; because unlike drugs, or other crimes, madaling mag-imbestiga ng informant sa pirating. Consider this:
Edu has a list of authorized Sony resellers. So his boys see a store selling a Sony DVD, and it is marked as a probable pirate store. So one day, Edu and his boys do an operation. They go to all the suspect stores, and buy one Sony DVD. Time it will take, five minutes – to pick up a DVD, say “Titanic”, pay, leave, note down the store location. So Edu can do twelve of these in one hour – 60 minutes divided by five is twelve.
In two hours, Edu can do twenty four. Sabihin mo nang three hours for the twenty four. So if Edu starts in the morning, takes lunch, and does it again after lunch, Edu can do 48. Four other agents of his can do the same. So the five of them can go to Eugenio at 4 pm to get warrants for 48 * 5, or 240 stores.
You think Eugenio needs to do a detailed interview of all five for the warrants? All Edu and his boys will have to do is swear under oath, Judge, ito pong Titanic na ito, sa store na iyon, at ito po naman sa ganireng store, etc. So the judge asks his clerk to type up a warrant, i-xerox ng 240 times, dahil pareho ang facts, and the clerk will pen in the names of the stores, before the judge signs.
The following day, raid agad sa 240 stores.
Ano? Plausible ba ang paliwanag? O maliwanag na palusot?
Oops. The comment above is in response to the portion below:
Pinky Webb is on vacation from her show,”Umagang kay Ganda” and radio show with Ted Failon.
Edu must be with her.
Suspended for issuing “hundreds of search warrants in one day?” They should give the guy a medal!
Nagtatago si Edu kasi mali ang ibinulong nya kay Jones. Lumabas ka na kuya Edu at sagutin mo si Ellen…!
hudas not lie?
Tigil ang appointment ng OIC. Talo na naman ang mga legal eggless. Sorry eagles pala ng Penoy.
Unconstitutional daw. Oh I See.
Re SnV’s #9:Even PNoy’s allies in the Senate like Chiz Escudero were warning him about it. Sobrang bilib sa kanyang mga kabarkadang “legal eggless”eh. Ayan.
Letter of Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez to malaya Publisher Amado Macasaet:
ngayon ko lang nalamang jose midas pala buong pangalan nitong SC administrator.
puwede rin kaya siyang tawaging justice jodas for the short, hane?