Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Saturday said the Marcoses should be treated fairly after former First Lady Imelda Marcos was allowed to post bail while her appeal on her graft charges is still pending.
Pimentel noted that Marcos should be treated fairly despite the unfairness of the Marcos family during the martial law years.
“Kung naging unfair sa atin yung mga Marcoses maging fair tayo sa kanila para makita naman nila na ang laban natin ngayon ay patas unlike sa panahon nila na hindi patas,” Pimentel told radio station DWIZ.
(If the Marcoses happened to be unfair to us, let’s be fair to them and show them that our fight today is fair unlike those days that they were not.)
Pimentel was reacting to the Nov. 28 Sandiganbayan court’s Fifth Division resolution which granted Marcos’ “motion for leave to avail of postconviction remedies” and allowed her to post P300,000 worth of bail.
Pimentel explained that under the Constitution the bail is “discretionary” unless their crime’s punishment is under life imprisonment.
“Ang general rule sa ating Constitution lahat tayo na maakusahan ng krimen, merong right to post bail. Except when pag mabigat yung akyusasyon like yung punishment niya life imprisonment so bail is discretionary,” he said.
The senator added that Marcos’ right to post bail needs to be respected as her graft charges were not equal to the “life imprisonment punishment.”
“So kung di pumasok doon sa exception yung kaso niya meron siyang karapatan to post bail. Marcos man siya, hitler man siya yan po ay mayroong karapatan. Kailangang respetuhin natin ang karapatan ng tao,” Pimentel said.
Last Nov. 9, Marcos was found guilty of seven counts of ten of the graft cases filed against her and sentenced to a maximum prison term of 6 years up to 11 years.
The graft charges were related to the Swiss foundations she and late dictator Ferdinand Marcos established and used to stash at least $200-million abroad while she was a member of the defunct Batasang Pambansa, Metro Manila governor and minister of human settlements. /jpv
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