GRAND JURY AND TRIAL JURY FOR THE PHILIPPINES

The Highly Respected Presidents, Chairmen, CEOs and Managers of:

     MAKATI BUSINESS CLUB
     CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES
     ALL CONCERNED BUSINESS LEADERS ALL OVER THE PHILIPPINES
     KILOSBAYAN FOUNDATION CONVENORS
     BANTAYBAYAN KATARUNGAN FOUNDATION CONVENORS

                            - And -

     The CATHOLIC BISHOP CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES
     The UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST OF THE PHILIPPINES
     The EL SHADAI
     All Clergies of other Religious Faith in the Philippines.


Dear Most Highly Respected Business and
Ecclesiastical Leaders of the Philippines:

          1.  I wish to solicit your patriotic sponsorship in the launching of the "People's Jury Initiative."  With your indispensable power and influence, we would be able to set up the system that can substantially eliminate graft and corruption by as much as 85-90%  in the Philippine Government as well as in putting an end to illegal gambling and prostitution rings and human rights abuses in our country. 

         2.  With your leadership, we can easily accomplish this by the adoption of the Grand Jury and Trial Jury Systems as a part of the administration of Philippine Justice.  These systems are being proposed in the  "People Jury Initiative" and it is intended as a national statute in accordance with Republic Act 6735.  This proposed law will implement Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution that will enable the common and ordinary citizens in the private sector of Philippine Society to exercise and practice their sovereign power and authority over their public officials and/or over any other person whomsoever who may claim as a datu or sultan or royalty with power or influence above the law.  This initiative is not an amendment to the said constitutional provision.

          3.  The work of Grand Juries and Trial Juries will be presided and supervised, but not controlled in making their decision, by lawful authorities such as judges of trial courts and justices of the Sandiganbayan.  Judicial supervision consists of giving statutory jury instructions to Jurors on duty.   A "statutory" jury instruction is an instruction written in the jury systems law which the judge cannot deviate or change in issuing, or reading to, the jury whether he likes it or not otherwise such a judge can be indicted by a Grand Jury for obstruction of justice upon complaint by any citizen if shown that he did so to favor or disfavor a party or witness to a case.

          4.  Grand Juries secretly investigate and decide independently to indict in court  crime offenders without need of approval by a judge, ombudsman, government prosecutor, datu, sultan or royalty or any influential community leader.

         5.  The Grand Jury system will grant absolute immunity from prosecution in favor of any and all givers in bribery including those who have offered bribes to any public official or judge (who, in fact, are silent victims of extortion and solicitation by powerful characters of society and in the government) when such giver or offeror of a bribe shall testify against  the recipients of their bribes.  If he shall refuse to testify in spite of the grant of immunity from prosecution, he shall be charged for obstruction of justice - not for bribery - as defined in the proposed jury systems law.

          6.  Trial Juries shall likewise decide independently to try and convict accused crime offenders regardless of rank, position or title in the government or influence or royalty as a datu or sultan of society.  In the "People's Jury Initiative", Presiding judges and justices will not be allowed to participate in jury deliberations to issue jury verdicts or decisions.  The jury verdict shall be exclusively decided by private citizens who serve as jurors that compose the jury.

          7.  Trial juries simply decide on their own free and independent judgment in their secret deliberating room after they have receive their jury instructions on the law and have seen or heard the evidence at the trial.

          8.  Jurors are not afraid to decide against any powerful government character including the indictment or conviction of a corrupt President because, as private citizens, they owe no gratitude to any government high official in obtaining their jobs with their private employers.   Vindictive accused grafters cannot fire or terminate private citizens from their jobs with their private employers either.

          9.  Membership in juries, or the jurors, will be limited to all citizens in the private sector only which compose the absolute sovereign majority of Philippine democracy.  They will be chosen by lottery from registered voters of their judicial districts.  Disqualified from jury duty or membership are public officials, employees, members of police and armed forces and any or all persons employed in any government instrumentality and government owned or controlled or quasi-government corporations.

          10.   Juries will likewise solve the nagging Muslim and Christian relationship in the Philippines and shall improve the unity of the Filipino People in the same manner the jury systems in the United States for over 200 years now that had forced the American people to follow their rule of law, rather than the whimsical rule of their leaders and public officials, thus keeping itself free from rampant government corruption.  Juries have further greatly maintained the unity of the American people not only among its Muslim inhabitants but also with all other ethnic groups, nationalities in, and the various Sister States of, said country.   We may recall that Philippine democracy is an exact replica of U.S. democracy and the Filipino people, Muslims and Christians alike, deserve to live in the same peaceful and united atmosphere of that great democracy - not as how the TRAPOS, abusive sultans, and warmongering datus, are administering the democratic government of the Philippines today.

                               Enactment of the Jury System will break the stalemate in the
                                so-called Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.

          11.  The Jury System is the perfect and lasting solution to the Bangsamoro secession movement in the southern Philippines.  It will stop the slavery and slaughter of common peaceful and ordinary Muslims who are forced against their will to fight as mercenaries and used as pawns in the ever increasing violent rivalry wars in politics, business, and courtships between, and in behalf, of their warmongering datus and sultans as well as their selfish desire to annihilate the Christians to whom their forebears with the orchestration of their former leading datus and sultans in selling previously to the Christians their idle and uncultivated lands. 

          12.  The Jury System will liberate the common and poor Muslims of their bondage from their abusive datus, sultans, and corrupt government officials far more than the liberation and benefits they will derive from their Bangsamoro secession movement, aka: BJE. This BJE will tightened even more their slavery in the hands of their corrupt leaders, abusive sultans and warmongering datus who are, in fact, misleading them into this BJE.  Please refer to paragraph No. 16 on how the poor Muslims and poor Christians will be united in justice, through the Jury Systems, to resist with their sovereign power over the dictatorial abuses of government officials, datus and sultans.

          13.  I would be delighted to send you upon request a CD containing the details of the draft of the proposed "People's Jury Initiative", the steps to follow, the forms needed, and the petition to the COMELEC requesting the setting of the election date for the approval by the people of the adoption of the Philippine Jury Systems Law. 

         14.   The draft of the proposed jury law was expertly prepared by Atty. Marlowe Camello, a registered lawyer both in the Philippines and in California who is highly familiar with the workings of the Grand Jury and Trial Jury Systems.  He was also a former law practitioner in Cotabato City and law graduate of the Notre Dame University of Cotabato City.

          15.  The wisdom behind the adoption of the jury systems is TO EMPOWER THE POOR AND THE WEAK to have a DECIDING POWER IN JUSTICE to secretly investigate and indict in court by the GRAND JURY, or to try and convict by the TRIAL JURY, any abusive and corrupt personality of Philippine Society or Government regardless of his rank, power, title, position, or royalty.

          16.  The Jury System is the empowerment of the ordinary common and ordinary Christians, the ordinary and common Muslims who are treated like slaves by their datus and sultans, so that all these common ordinary citizens, Christians and Muslims alike jointly,  in the private sector of society shall be united in justice, when called to serve as members of either the Grand Juries and Trial Juries that will enable them to impose and enforce their sovereign power and authority under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution against their "almighty corrupt" government leaders, abusive sultans and warmongering datus who act like gods to impose their will on ordinary citizens and ordinary Muslims.

          17.   I hope you will reserve judgment as to the adaptability of the jury systems in the Philippines until you have read the materials in the CD I wish to send you.  It is where you will surprisingly find that before a person can serve as a juror, he must first know nothing about laws [Basic Statutory Jury Instruction No. (16) in the proposed Jury Systems Law], the reason why lawyers cannot sit as trial jurors.

          18.   Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States said:  "The Jury is the only anchor yet imagined by man that can hold a government to the principles of its constitution."

         19.   Setting up of the Philippine Jury System is also the fulfilment of President Magsaysay's wishes when he said:  "Those who have less in life must have more in law."

          20.  United we stand, we will be able to establish the mechanism, the jury system for the exclusive use of the people in the private sector, for their imposition of decency in the government.  It could lead into lasting peace and business prosperity in our country that can transform the Philippines into the centre of commerce and industry in East Asia.  Indeed, instilling decency in the government will greatly help your enterprises and business to flourish and expand with more expected income and revenues compared to their current revenues under the present government monopolized system of justice.

          21.   Thank you all and God bless us in this noble crusade.

Sincerely yours,


VIC DEL FIERRO, JR., A fearless fighter for Justice of the oppressed.
President, Coalition for Consumers Protection and Welfare, Inc.