By: Atty Marlowe Camello (Retired)

The ordinary people of the Philippines have more sovereign power
and authority than the president to send to jail all notorious “big shots”
of society if their anti-graft associations should simply learn how to form
a “Grand Jury” which is impliedly needed to implement Article II,
Section 1, of the Constitution, otherwise this provision cannot operate
without a primary action coming directly from the people. Due to
conflict of interest, the Government cannot be expected to implement the
suggestion in this Article. Only the people and defense attorneys can.

First of all, I wish to respectfully introduce myself. It looks to me
that we all have the same desire to stop the “business” of government
graft and corruption in the Philippines. I am a lawyer and I am a bar
member both in the Philippines and in the State Bar of California. In
both jurisdictions, I have handled criminal cases. I am however, retired
now, and I am over 87 years of age as of this writing. After I became a
California attorney, I was fascinated about the workings of the Jury
Systems, both the Grand Jury and Trial Jury Systems, and I did a more
thorough research on how they work effectively to minimize the crimes
of government graft and corruption.

The Jury Systems have not been used in the justice system in the
Philippines because of our laziness to learn them that has resulted in our
Judicial Ignorance of the use of the Jury System, its adoption is in fact
imperative, as implied in the quoted provision of the Philippine
constitution hereunder and which is generally patterned after the
democratic concept of the U. S. Constitution. Article II, Section 1, of

2   The Philippine Constitution states that “The Philippines is a democratic
and republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanates from them.”

The Philippine Justice System currently has been operated by the
Justice Department and the Ombudsman WITHOUT AUTHORITY
from the people, contrary to, and in violation of, the above quotation
especially that part that says “Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanates from them.”

First of all, here are some concepts, in my opinion, about what
constitutes “the people” as used in the constitution.

1. Any group of at least 2 persons who can decide unanimously
   to perform an act is considered “People,”
2. Any group of at least 3 or more 4 persons who can decide by
   majority rule to perform an act is considered “People.”

If there are more number of people in a group, for example 10 or more,
which decide in performing an act by majority rule, such group has a
greater chance of arriving at a correct and better credible decision to act
than there are lesser number of people in a group.

Historically, it has been established under the U.S. Federal jury
systems that a “Grand Jury” should be composed of 23 members, of
which at least 12 of them shall decide to file in court a proposed criminal
indictment. On the other hand the “Trial Jury” should be composed of
12 members that needs to decide unanimously to issue its verdict in a
Jury Trial. Each and all members of both juries are chosen secretly by

lottery from among the citizens in a local judicial district and these
juries both stand for the people independently and NOT for the
government.

Purposes:

The Grand Jury

Q: How does the government obtain its authorization from the
people to prosecute a suspected felony crime offender?

A: By secretly convening a Body or Group of sovereign people
upon the instance of the prosecutor under an established Rules and
Procedures. This group, called the Grand Jury, shall then be given
freedom to decide, whether or not, to indict the crime suspect.

Q: How will the Grand Jury System be established in the
Philippines?

A: Inasmuch as there are two prosecuting departments in the
Philippines, namely the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman, it is
suggested that they shall jointly promulgate their internal Grand Jury
Rules and Procedures. As independent government branches, setting up
the GJ Rules and Procedures is an inherent part of their powers and they
need not seek its legislation by Congress and the President in order to
secure their empowerment (or authorization) from the sovereign power
of the people. It is their means of establishing their department
independence or emancipation from the President and Legislature. By
not establishing their Grand Jury Rules and Procedure, they become and
remain the slaves of the Executive and Legislative Departments for their

4  Lack of direct authorization and empowerment from the people.

The formation and operation of the Grand Jury is conducted with
ABSOLUTE SECRECY, from start to finish, and it does not require to
provide prior knowledge or information of its action to the suspected
crime offender until a warrant of arrest is about to be executed to take
him into custody. The GJ formation may be initiated by any association
of the people, not necessarily by the government or fiscal or public
prosecutor in a locality of the people who are interested to accuse in
court a suspected mega corrupt official or crime offender with the help
of any private practicing attorney or by a fiscal or government
prosecutor who shall also act with secrecy. All members of the GJ
should be private citizens – no government official or employee is
allowed any membership in a GJ. Normally, creation of the Grand Jury
should be secretly conducted by a fiscal, ombudsman, or government
prosecutor. If the government shall neglect to use this procedure, a
private practicing attorney can help any association of private citizens
in creating a Grand Jury without permission from the government,
because the people are the boss and the government is only the servant
of the people under Philippine Democracy and their constitution in
sending a crime suspect to jail.

Once the GJ is formed, all its members shall be sworn to secrecy

After steps 1 and 2, above are completed, the GJ Members shall
secretly convene independently without the presence of the attorney,
fiscal, or government prosecutor, to discuss among themselves
exclusively to independently find out if there is probable cause to indict
(or to accuse) in court the crime suspect. If 12 or more of the GJ
members shall vote “yes” (to indict) they shall then sign with their secret
code name the written criminal complaint, and the same shall be returned
to the attorney, fiscal, or government prosecutor who shall, in turn,
SECRETLY file in court the signed GJ criminal complaint.