Richard Gutierrez arraignment in "reckless imprudence" case meets another reset

By: Noel B. Orsal

Movie and TV actor Richard Gutierrez again did

not show up for his arraignment scheduled
today, March 31. The Cavite Municipal Circuit
Trial Court reset the date to May 26.

Mark Angelo Ching

Lorayne Pardo's lawyers were in for a surprise

today, March 31, when the scheduled
arraignment for Richard Gutierrez's Reckless
Imprudence Resulting in Homicide case did not
push through. It was instead reset to May 26.

The absence of two key persons at the Cavite

Municipal Circuit Trial Court this morning, 11
a.m., caused the arraignment hearing's
postponement. In fact, Judge Ma. Victoria N.
Cupin-Tesorero only presided over a short meeting between Lorayne's lawyer Ombra Jainal, and
Richard's lawyers Gener Asuncion, Ma. Lourdes Panganiban, and Sheryl Mallari.

The first key person who did not attend today's arraignment hearing was Public Prosecutor
Onofre Maranan. In an interview, an almost speechless Atty. Jainal said they could not proceed
with the hearing because Maranan's presence was required.

"Basta criminal case, it's People of the Philippines vs. accused," Jainal told PEP (Philippine
Entertainment Portal) over the phone. "The private prosecutors are directed by the public
prosecutor."

Jainal added, "Wala si Maranan, so wala tayong magagawa." Court clerks told PEP after the
hearing that Maranan instead attended another hearing in Cavite.

The second key person who was absent was the respondent himself, movie and TV actor Richard
Gutierrez, who also failed to attend the February 10 arraignment hearing due to what was said to
be acute gastroenteritis.

The actor's absence was due to the manifestation and motion he filed to the Cavite court. The
said motion asserts that the arraignment hearing should be cancelled because of an existing
resolution from the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) that orders the dismissal of the homicide charges.
In another interview, Atty. Abbas, who was not present in today's hearing, told PEP that
Gutierrez may have "presumed" that the court will grant the manifestation and motion this
morning, and thus, his presence is not anymore required.

The court, however, did not take action on the manifestation and motion and only put it "on
paper" because there had been no hearing.

Besides, Atty. Abbas said the court should treat the motion as "scrap paper" because it did not
follow the Rules of Court. Section 4, Rule 15 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure states: "Every
written motion required to be heard and the notice of the hearing thereof shall be served in such a
manner as to ensure its receipt by the other party at least three (3) days before the date of
hearing, unless the court for good cause sets the hearing on shorter notice."

Lorayne's camp received their copy of the manifestation and motion on Monday, March 29, only
two days before today's hearing. Atty. Abbas said this was "not in compliance" with the rules,
and therefore the motion is "useless and should not be accepted for filing" by the court.

The court then ended the short meeting between the lawyers of Richard and Lorayne, and reset
the arraignment hearing to May 26.

MOTION TO INHIBIT. Atty. Jainal said he sees "partiality" in favor of the accused in Judge
Cupin-Tesorero's handling of the case. This hunch, the lawyer said, will prompt him to file a
"motion to inhibit" the Cavite judge.

"That's a possibility, that's an option," he told PEP.

Atty. Abbas, on the other hand, will wait for the resolution of the motion for reconsideration
they filed to the DOJ before plotting out their next action. "Hinihintay namin na ma-reverse yung
resolution ni [former Justice Secretary] Agnes Devanadera, tapos tuloy-tuloy na 'yan," he said.

Atty. Abbas also said he is also set to file an administrative or criminal case against Devanadera
for issuing the "grossly erroneous resolution," which found no probable cause in the Reckless
Imprudence Resulting in Homicide case filed against Richard Gutierrez.

He added, "They [Richard's camp] can have their day now dito sa DOJ at Cavite Municipal
Circuit Trial Court, but we will raise the case to the Court of Appeals up to the Supreme Court. I
don't think the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court will agree to them."