Abalos asks for inhibition of judge, cites alleged extortion

Former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos and Judge Jesus Mupas. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos sought Friday the inhibition of Judge Jesus Mupas from the trial of electoral sabotage charges against him,  claiming that  emissaries from the judge had tried to extort millions of pesos from him.

Abalos testified at Friday’s bail hearing at the Pasay Regional Trial Court’s Branch 112 that emissaries allegedly sent by Mupas had tried to extort P100 million and  P30 million on separate occasions in exchange for favorable rulings on his motions.

Friday’s hearing was intended to resolve the motions filed by Abalos asking that he be allowed to post bail and for him to be held under house arrest instead of a regular jail.

Abalos, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a couple of other people, have been charged with electoral sabotage, a no-bail offense, for allegedly rigging the results of the 2007 senatorial elections.