27 December 2005
Hit BM Ancheta’s lawyering for holdup suspects
SAN JACINTO – A board member from the fourth district is under fire for reportedly acting as counsel for the accused in an aborted hold-up incident here last week.
A son of Board Member Manuel Ancheta however denied the allegation saying his father saw the suspects by chance when he visited the municipal hall a day after the robbery-shooting incident. He claimed his father who is a lawyer was not the counsel of the suspects – Federico Patricio, his sons Ruben and John Ray, and grandson Melvin Soriano.
Efforts by the local media to contact the board member proved futile.
The elder Patricio, in an interview, admitted to having Ancheta as one of his lawyers. The other is former municipal trial court Judge Aniceto Madronio. He said that the two lawyers are his counsels in his other cases, one of which, he said, is an estafa case.
Reports said that the sanggunian panlalawigan member even tried to intimidate the local police when he went to the station. He was quoted as telling the police investigators he would just see them in court.
The Patricios, police report said, tried to stop two employees of delivery firm LBC while on their way on a motorcycle Wednesday last week to a client in barangay Bolo. The driver sped away but the suspects fired at them causing them to lose control of the motorbike.
The town police was quickly alerted of the incident. The responding police team caught the suspects who tried to hide in the area.
Victims of earlier robbery incidents in the municipality and nearby towns who were invited to identify the suspects claimed they were the perpetrators. The accused are also facing cases of illegal possession of firearms and cattle rustling, it was gathered.
Local broadcasters lambasted the board member for acting as lawyer of supposed enemies of the state when he was supposed to defend the government being a government official himself, they pointed out.
His situation is similar to two fellow local legislators who were strongly criticized for serving as counsels for suspected criminals in the past. Former Dagupan City Councilor Aquilino Bolinas, supposedly a human rights lawyer, earned the ire of city policemen in his time at the council when he lawyered for young criminals from the city facing legal suits.
Mangaldan Councilor Danilo Macasieb was also highly criticized last year for his role in the dismissal of drug-related cases in that town.
Both lawyer-officials anchored their actions on the time-honored legal truism that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Vice-Gov. Oscar B. Lambino observed that while local lawyer-legislators are not prohibited from practicing their profession, he believed they should refrain from handling criminal cases that will compromise the interest of the state.
A son of Board Member Manuel Ancheta however denied the allegation saying his father saw the suspects by chance when he visited the municipal hall a day after the robbery-shooting incident. He claimed his father who is a lawyer was not the counsel of the suspects – Federico Patricio, his sons Ruben and John Ray, and grandson Melvin Soriano.
Efforts by the local media to contact the board member proved futile.
The elder Patricio, in an interview, admitted to having Ancheta as one of his lawyers. The other is former municipal trial court Judge Aniceto Madronio. He said that the two lawyers are his counsels in his other cases, one of which, he said, is an estafa case.
Reports said that the sanggunian panlalawigan member even tried to intimidate the local police when he went to the station. He was quoted as telling the police investigators he would just see them in court.
The Patricios, police report said, tried to stop two employees of delivery firm LBC while on their way on a motorcycle Wednesday last week to a client in barangay Bolo. The driver sped away but the suspects fired at them causing them to lose control of the motorbike.
The town police was quickly alerted of the incident. The responding police team caught the suspects who tried to hide in the area.
Victims of earlier robbery incidents in the municipality and nearby towns who were invited to identify the suspects claimed they were the perpetrators. The accused are also facing cases of illegal possession of firearms and cattle rustling, it was gathered.
Local broadcasters lambasted the board member for acting as lawyer of supposed enemies of the state when he was supposed to defend the government being a government official himself, they pointed out.
His situation is similar to two fellow local legislators who were strongly criticized for serving as counsels for suspected criminals in the past. Former Dagupan City Councilor Aquilino Bolinas, supposedly a human rights lawyer, earned the ire of city policemen in his time at the council when he lawyered for young criminals from the city facing legal suits.
Mangaldan Councilor Danilo Macasieb was also highly criticized last year for his role in the dismissal of drug-related cases in that town.
Both lawyer-officials anchored their actions on the time-honored legal truism that a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Vice-Gov. Oscar B. Lambino observed that while local lawyer-legislators are not prohibited from practicing their profession, he believed they should refrain from handling criminal cases that will compromise the interest of the state.
