Court asked to release ex-hubby of Kuh Ledesma

MANILA, Philippines - The lawyers of businessman Luisito Gonzalez, former husband of singer Kuh Ledesma, on Monday asked the Manila regional trial court (RTC) to dismiss the charges against their client and his co-accused, Antonio Buenaflor. The bid was initiated by lawyers Estelito Mendoza and Jose Flaminiano who filed a motion before the Manila RTC Branch 32. The defense lawyers, in their three-page motion, also asked the court to for the immediate release of the two suspects. The defense move came after the Court of Appeals dismissed the charges against the two citing, among others, the testimonies of witnesses who said that the suspect was confined at the Makati Medical Center at the time of the murder. Gonzalez was tagged in the killing of his stepbrother, 51-year-old year-old businessman Federico “Rico" Delgado - a scion of the wealthy Delgado family. He surrendered to National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents last July 16, 2008. He denied participation in the crime. Delgado was found dead with multiple stab wounds last March 10, 2007 inside the Mayflower building on Leon Guinto Street in Malate, Manila. Police investigation showed that Gonzalez was identified as one of the suspects by the prime witness in the case, Delgado’s 20-year-old companion, Annaliza Pesico. For his part, the lawyer for Delgado's family said that he was going to oppose the defense move for the dismissal of the case. He pointed out that the CA decision was not yet "final and executory" and that they can still go up to the Supreme Court. "The 29 affiants who claimed that Luisito was at the Makati Medical Center basement did not appear during the preliminary investigation, neither did they execute their affidavits,"the lawyer, Gabriel Enriquez, said in an interview aired over QTV's Balitanghali. In the motion filed Monday, the defense lawyers formally informed RTC Branch 32 Judge Thelma Bunyi Medina that case has already been dismissed by the Court of Appeals (CA). “In a criminal case, the case is brought about by the filing of a complaint or information. Without a complaint or information, there is no case over which the court may exercise jurisdiction. That means, without a complaint or information, a court in a criminal case may not issue a warrant of arrest or commitment order over the accused," the defense lawyers said. The defense lawyers explained that the validity of the information in the instant case, as ruled in resolutions dated October 15 and 26, 2007 of the acting Secretary of Justice, was challenged by the accused before the Court of Appeals in a Special Civil Action for Certiorary and Prohibition. On August 29, 2008, the Court of Appeals - in an amended decision - ruled and granted the MR of the accused. “As a consequence of the above, there is not now before the court an ‘information’, hence, no criminal case over which the court may exercise ‘judicial power.’ It may not issue warrant of arrest of orders of commitment. Indeed, the Court of Appeals not only ‘quashed and dismissed’ the ‘information’ filed in the instant case, but likewise the ‘warrants of arrest’ issued pursuant thereto," the defense lawyers said, citing the CA latest ruling. - GMANews.TV