Grand Jury; an introduction - studying the suitability of the system to the Philippines.

Grand Jury Introduction
Source: http://www.the-filipino-people.com/Grand-Jury-Introduction.html

Grand Jury Introduction

A Grand Jury, or “GJ”, is a confidential group of pre-qualified private citizens organized by law, randomly chosen and empowered to directly exercise the sovereign power and authority of the people under the constitution to secretly investigate serious crimes and to file indictment in court against the crime suspect upon its finding of probable cause. It is traditionally composed of 23 members. Once organized, it acts without prior approval from any government authority.

One grand jury shall be organized in each jury district whose jurisdiction shall be coterminous with its congressional district.

A GJ does not need to find evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of the crime suspect in order to present its indictment in court. What is important is that it acts as an independent body of the people to decide without fear or favor whether or not to indict a crime suspect, rich or poor, and regardless of the power of the person or public official who is suspected of committing a crime. Its members serve anonymously whose identity is secretly kept from publicity.

The Members of a GJ is required to take the following oath before they start to act on their mission:

"I will support the Constitution of the Philippines and all laws made in pursuance thereof and in conformity therewith, will diligently inquire into, and true presentment make, of all public offenses against the people of the Philippines, committed or triable within this municipality or city as well as within this province, or judicial district, of which the Grand Jury shall have or can obtain legal evidence. I will keep my own counsel, and that of my fellow grand jurors and of the government, and will not, except when required in the due course of judicial proceedings or authorized by statute, disclose the testimony of any witness examined before the Grand Jury, nor anything which I or any other grand juror may have said, nor the manner in which I or any other grand juror may have voted on any matter before the Grand Jury. I will present no person through malice, hatred or ill will, nor leave any unpresented through fear, favor, or affection, or for any reward, or the promise or hope thereof; but in all my presentments I will present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, according to the best of my skill and understanding, so help me God."

GJ members shall be chosen by lottery from among pre-qualified private citizens. Among others, some of their qualifications as required by the proposed jury law are: that they must be college graduates with a diploma but not necessarily with a law degree; and no public official or government employee or his close relative shall qualify for membership in the GJ.

The formation of a GJ shall be accomplished under the supervision of an executive trial judge. The supervising judge, however, has no participatory deciding power in the functions of the GJ. His role is limited only in the formation or organization of this body of citizens and issuing to them the Standard Grand Jury Instruction for their empowerment to act.

The Basic and Source of the
Power of the Grand Jury

The basis and direct source of power of the grand jury is the people's sovereign authority and power in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution which states that "Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them."

GJ power to investigate and indict transcends all over the three great branches of the government, namely, the Legislature, the Presidency, and Judiciary, whose powers are derived in the subordinate Articles VI, VII, and VIII of the Philippine Constitution. Question: If the President has been meant to be the sovereign "guy" of the Philippines, why is his authority in Article VII written below the People's sovereign power in Article II?

Under the proposed jury law, the GJ is given the power to indict for Obstruction of Justice against any person or public official no matter how high his position is who shall violate obligatory rules, or court orders, such as, among others, disobedience to a GJ subpoena or subpoena duces tecum, or disobedience to court ordered writ of amparo, writ of habeas corpus, writ of mandamus, or writ of habeas data, even if the violator is the President of the Philippines. The penalty for Obstruction of Justice shall be from 3 to 5 years and 5 to 7 years in some specified cases.

By the creation of the Grand Jury System, justices, judges, and prosecutors as "agents" of justice shall no longer be treated as errand "boys" and "girls" of the the President. The Judiciary shall truly become a "living" co-equal branch in our present so-called equal government branches.

The Ultimate Objective of
Creating the Grand Jury System

The ultimate objective of the GJ is to investigate serious crimes. A serious crime is an offense punishable by imprisonment in jail by one year or more. This body of citizens shall decide by secret ballot so that none of its members shall know each others vote in reaching a decision to indict a suspected crime offender.

The purpose of secret balloting is to prevent coercion by any member upon any of its fellow members in voting so that its decision to indict, or not to indict, the subject of its investigation shall be secured upon the free will (and not on the ill-will) of its members. A member who votes “No” can not be reviled or antagonized by his fellow jurors because he cannot be identified with his "No" vote.

The GJ is never intended as an adversarial forum because it is not a court of law. Making a GJ an adversarial body will merely be duplicating the function of the courts to find whether the subject is guilty beyond reasonable doubt and will add up delays in deciding to file the needed accusation in court against a crime suspect.

All that is required of the Grand Jury is to find probable cause whether a crime has been committed and that the crime suspect is PROBABLY (or by prima facie evidence) guilty of said crime.

Why Corrupt Investigators
Oppose to the Creation of
The Grand Jury System?

Corrupt lawyers, prosecutors, and investigators love the present adversarial system of investigation for some reasons, such as:

# To give them the opportunity, time and means to bilk the suspected offender, or to manipulate for the exoneration of a beloved or favorite crime suspect. Lately, we have seen all of these proceedings in the Joc-Joc Bolante and the Ex-Justice Sec Hernandez cases that were conducted by fiscals and the ombuds(wo)man under the command of GMA. Both were hocus-pocus proceedings. We do not want to make the GJ a monster hocus-pocus agent under the control of a grafter-in-chief. We have enough of this corrupt investigation system already.

# To show off their skills with grand standing investigations for trial by publicity purposes to gain points for promotions in their job or for political fame that usually ends with no indictment of their object of investigation. It’s all exercise in futility.

Utmost Secrecy is Required
in Grand Jury Investigations

The official business of the GJ shall be conducted in a strictly confidential manner and should be accomplished only in a secret investigating room. Absolutely no one is allowed to enter its premises except one witness at a time when setting a witness for questioning. A witness shall not be allowed to have a lawyer to accompany him in the grand jury room.

To find the subject in a GJ investigation, it shall require the clerk of court to publish in newspapers or in television the invitation of tipsters or whistle blowers to secretly report suspected serious crime offenders and witnesses with their names and addresses without requiring the tipsters and whistle blowers to disclose their identity.

The report forms will be published in newspapers for convenient use by tipsters. Please read the sample form of the "Invitation for Anonymous Tipsters" near the bottom of this page.

Tipsters and Whistle Blowers

Who are the possible tipsters of crimes? Many. He or she could be a disgruntled or jilted lover of the crime suspect; a partner in crime who has not been paid, or or has been underpaid, of his share in the loot; a government employee or official who has been bypassed for promotion; an honest government employee or official who is already fed up with this business of corruption in his office; a person who is bothered by his conscience on a crime he knows about; an innocent person who is blamed for the crime of another; a close family member who is badly maltreated by the crime offender. Perhaps many more types of offenders you can imagine.

Members of the GJ are never required to go out to the field to make their investigation. All their investigation activities are performed in their secret investigation room. In filing a GJ indictment none of its members is required to go to the clerk of court to file its indictment. Instead, it shall summon the Clerk of Court to come to the secret GJ investigation room to accept and stamp the filing of its indictment.

Due to the secret manner by which GJs are made to operate, there is no chance that one can see it while at work . This is the reason that you may have not heard about it before. And perhaps today is the first time you have come to know that there is such thing as a Grand Jury. Most Americans, in fact, don’t know about it.

How Do Witnesses Find the
Grand Jury Investigation Room?

A witness who is subpoenaed by the GJ is required to report to the Clerk of Court who shall, in turn, usher, or bring in, to the GJ investigating room the witness for questioning. If there are several witnesses, only one witness at a time shall be allowed and guided by the clerk of court to enter the GJ investigation room.

The main reason for the utmost secrecy of GJ investigation is to counter-act the secret ways crimes are committed by offenders. GJ members are assigned with security ID numbers (SIDN) for their official name instead of their true names. The only person who will know the true names of GJ members is the judge who swore them into office and he is required by law to keep the list of the names of the GJ members in a bank vault. A witness is also given an SIDN and his true name is never mentioned when he testifies during investigation or questionings.

Even a crime suspect under investigation is likewise assigned with an SIDN so that nobody whomsoever will know who the object of its investigation is. The only time the subject of investigation will know that he has been indicted is at the moment of the execution of an arrest warrant to take him into custody.

The GJ law will require that court personnel, the court presiding judge, the sheriff or arresting warrant officer to keep the investigation and indictment strictly confidential until the indictee is already taken actually into custody.

Other Purposes for the Secrecy
of Grand Jury Investigations

The other purposes of the secrecy of GJ investigation are:

# To protect the members of the grand jury from harm or harassment by powerful vindictive crime offenders and their cohorts or relatives such as the President, Governors, Mayors, Senators and Congressmen, Police and Army officers; and

# To protect all possible witnesses to the crime from harm and harassment by interested parties or persons to a case;

# To prevent the crime suspect from becoming fugitive of justice or from escaping arrest;

# To prevent trial by publicity by grandstanding government investigators like the presidential wannabee senators, and police or army officials who want to gain “good points” (or “pugi” points) for promotion with their so called crime prevention efforts; and

# To keep the constitutional innocence of the crime suspect from prejudicial judgment by potential jurors in the case.

# To prevent the suspect or victim or their respective sympathizers from tampering any evidence or of threatening, harassing or harming potential witnesses;

# To protect both the victim and crime suspect from further counter-attacks or from harming each other or by their followers.

# To protect judges and government prosecutors and private investigators for doing their jobs honestly from illegal or unethical interference, threats, embarrassments, or physical harm from highly armed or powerful or wealthy elements of society both in and outside of government; and

# To encourage potential crime informers and whistle blowers to secretly report to the grand jury any criminal wrong doings in their workplace, neighborhood, organizations, and among circle of friends.

# To prevent Filipino politicians from proclaiming against each other to the whole world that they are all thieves. At list, at this time, there is a tiny number of them who are not.

Side Bar Issues

There are two constitutional issues that may be raised over the secrecy of grand jury investigation under the Philippine Constitution, namely:

# The right of a person in a criminal investigation against him to be informed of his two important rights in Article III, Section 12(1); and

# The right of the accused to be informed of the nature and accusation against him, in Article III, Section 14(2).

Article III, Section 12(1) is a protection for a person who IS IN CUSTODY such as when he is arrested while committing, or has committed, a criminal act. The rights there of the person is to be informed of two things: 1. His right to be reminded TO REMAIN SILENT; and 2. His right to be reminded TO RETAIN A LAWYER of his choice and if he cannot afford the government shall provide one for him.

If the person is a fugitive from justice, like when he is on flight in an executive jet in going to Singapore or Hong Kong to avoid arrest for committing an electoral dagdag/bawas offense, it would be impossible for an arresting officer, much less a grand jury, to advise him of his Article III, Section 12(1) rights.

Shall the authorities then have to call him by cell phone and say: "Hello, Garci, Hello, honey! Please remain silent, okay? You also have the right to hire your own attorney!".

What if he does not even answer the phone so that his whereabouts cannot be determined? Does this mean that the Supreme Court will issue an order to disallow the NBI, or the Grand Jury, to gather evidence against this fugitive "Garci", if he is not around? SUSMARYOSEP!!!

In GJ investigation, this Body is not dealing with a person in custody. It does not even know in the beginning who that person is. Besides that, none of its member is required to go out of the field to arrest any one. What will the members of the GJ do? Just play mahjong?

Article III, Section 14(2) is applicable in a court proceeding and not in a GJ proceeding because it is not a court. Besides that, there is no ACCUSED to speak of in a GJ proceeding. The only time there can be an accused is when he is already indicted in court by the GJ. But once the suspected offender is already indicted, the GJ is already done with him and it has nothing to do with him any further.

A Grand Jury is Not a Court. Has
No Power To Compel Crime Suspect
To Testify In Its Proceedngs

The GJ is not a court. It has no power to compel a crime suspect to appear before it to testify in his own behalf. It has no judicial power to detain or arrest a crime suspect. Because it is not a court, no one is allowed to cross-examine during the questioning of a witness inside the GJ investigation room. A person under GJ investigation cannot claim double jeopardy because it has no judicial powers whatsoever. Investigation and indictment is not a judicial power.

If a person claims that he is wrongly investigated and indicted by a GJ, he should examine himself about some acts he has performed that has placed him under suspicion of having committed a crime. If he suspects another person has reported him to the GJ for the alleged crime he has committed, he should report that person to the GJ likewise for counter-secret criminal investigation for obstruction of justice.

If at least 14 of the 23 members of the GJ finds probable cause that the crime suspect has committed a serious crime the GJ shall then have the authority to indict (or accuse) in court the serious crime suspect. The indictee (or accused suspected crime offender) shall then be required to stand trial before the other “twin” jury known as the Trial Jury in a court of law.

Sample of Invitation Notice
To Tipsters and Whistle Blowers

"Invitation For Anonymous Informants
Of Commission of Crimes to the Grand Jury
In the ________ Jury (Legislative) District of _______________

EVERY CITIZEN OR PERSON of this Jury (or Legislative) District is invited to submit anonymously to this Grand Jury who has first hand knowledge of the commission of any crime. Write your report in your own dialect or language. If you need more space to write on, write at the back of this paper. No need to type.

In crimes of bribery regardless of the rank or position in the government of the crime offender, a private citizen who is the giver or offeror in bribery and who will testify against the recipient of his bribe will be granted immunity from criminal prosecution under Presidential Decree 749.

IT IS NOT REQUIRED that you reveal your name but you may, if you wish. Send your report by mail or personally deliver and deposit your report at: "Citizens' Secret Crime Reports Drop Box", Attention: GJ SIDN #- ______Court House Building at (Address)

The envelope containing the report should not be more than one-fourth inch thick, 9-1/2 and 13 inches wide. State in your report completely as you can the following information. Do some little investigation, if it is possible but if not, submit whatever information you have or know. No need to type. Simplyhand print the information:

1. Name of the crime offender - ________

2. Office and address where the offender works or lives - _____________________

3. Crime he committed ____________. Name of the victim of his crime ______________ The approximate date _________and time _________ of the crime. Place where the crime was committed ______________. If you have seen how the crime was committed,please describe here ______________________________

If the offender is a government official, worker, police, or officer, write his name: _____________________, the name of his office _________________ and address ___________________

If he demanded money, write here how much he asked - P___________pesos.

4. Name of witness _____________________. Address:____________________.(Not you necessarily)

5. Name of witness ____________________. Telephone ___________________ Address: ________________.

6. Why and how did you come to know personally the name or identity of the offender of the crime you arereporting? Please state briefly.________________________________________. Write at the back of this paper any other information you wish to give. Write in any language or dialect you speak and write. Let us put all crime offenders and grafters out of business in our community for good. Thank you. SALAMAT PO SA INYONG TULONG.

Cut out this invitation. Fill it up and mail to the address mentioned above. Do your part and this Grand Jury will secretly investigate the crime which will charge the offender in court to stand trial before a trial jury of 12 citizens.-End of form.

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Sample of a Grand Jury Subpoena

"THE GRAND JURY

Of the _______ Jury (Legislative) District of:
____________________________________
Grand Jury Term from ___________ to _______________

"Confidential
GRAND JURY SUBPOENA

Grand Jury Case Number ________________

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL

In the Matter of the Grand Jury Investigation of:
(XXX XXX XXX)Name Withheld per Rule 1, Sec. 7 Of the
Rules of the Jury System.

(Note: Legible hand-printed information is sufficient to accomplish this form. No need to type)

(Certain information are undisclosed in this form pursuant to Rule 1, Sec. 8, of the Jury System)

To (Name of witness) ____________________, greetings:

You are hereby commanded to appear before the Grand Jury of the ___________Jury (Legislative) District of _________________, on the _______ day of ____________, at the Grand Jury InvestigationRoom (for instruction, report to the Clerk of Court, telephone number _____________) in the Court House (indicate address/city/province where witness will testify) at _____________________ then and there to testify to your knowledge in the case which is before this Grand Jury in which (mark the appropriate boxes):

(_)- A certain person named ______________________________ was allegedly (_)killed (_)- seriously injured (_)robbed.

(_)subjected to physical torture or abuse (_)Others, specify: _____________ in or at (state location of the crime).

(_)- Certain alleged acts of _________________________ have been committed or had been going on during the period, or sometime prior thereto, (indicate inclusive dates) from _______________ through __________________ and allegedly continuing in the office of, or _____________________

Grand Jury Investigation for: (Name and nature of crime is likewise withheld pursuant to Rule 1, Section 7, of the Rules of the Jury System.

at, (indicate location or address) ______________________and to bring with you the following, it being necessary to use the same as testimony (write below and itemize by numbering the things, you think, the witness has custody or has physical control of bringing in):
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
(Write at the back of this paper for additional space)

This Grand Jury will keep your identity absolutely in secret. Your testimony will not be revealed to the public. You are advised to keep this subpoena strictly confidential. Do not let anybody know about this subpoena. We will provide you with a Secret ID Number (SIDN) to keep your name secretly.

In a bribery case, if you are a giver or offeror and private citizen, or non-government employed, this Grand Jury will grant you immunity from prosecution of bribery by authority of Presidential Decree No. 749 if you testify against the recipient of your bribe. With this offer and by this subpoena, if you refuse to testify, this Grand Jury will indict you, instead, for obstruction of justice for violation of Article V, Section 1(u) of the Jury Systems Law with penalty of at least three years to five years of imprisonment according to Article III, Section 1(d)(d-1) of the Jury Systems Law.

If a third party prevents, or will prevent, you from testifying, you are obliged to testify and you are required to inform this Grand Jury of the identity and address of such third party regardless of his rank and power in the government or wealth or fame in the community for investigation and indictment bythis Grand Jury for Obstruction of Justice of such third party for violation of PD No. 1829.

You must appear personally and alone. Do not send your attorney or agent. You are not allowed to bring in your attorney with you. If your attorney will advise you to refuse to give your testimony without his presence or insist on staying in the grand jury investigation room, this Grand Jury will charge himfor obstruction of justice and this Grand Jury will indict you for contempt as well as for obstruction of justice for refusal to testify in accordance with Rule 1, Section 8 of the Rules of the Jury System.

ISSUED BY THIS GRAND JURY THROUGH ITS FOREMAN in the City of _______________, this_______ day of _____________, in the year _________.Recommended for issuance and signed by SIDN _______, Investigating GJ Member.

Issued and signed by SIDN _______, Grand Jury Foreman.SIDN signatures validated pursuant to Section 5, Rule 1, of the Rules of the Jury System.

Direction for the service of this subpoena:

The Grand Jury to The Clerk of Court of the Regional/Municipal Trial Court of ____________, Greeting:

You are hereby commanded to designate the server of, and return, the within subpoena according to law. Dated at ____________, this ______ day of _____________, _______ in the year of our Lord.

Signed with SIDN# ______, of the Secretary of the Grand JurySIDN signature validated per Section 5, Rule 1, of the Rules of the Jury System

PROOF OF SERVICE AND DELIVERY OF SUBPOENA:

After being signed by server, the Original of this documentmust be submitted to and kept by the Secretary of the Grand Jury

1. I served this Subpoena by personally delivering a copy thereof to the person named below: (The personal server must fill in by handwriting in the blanks hereunder)

(a) Name of Person Served _______________________

(b) Address where served _______________________

(c) Date/Time of Delivery: _____________, 20___ ______ ___.M

2. [_]- Non-Service Return of Subpoena (fill in and sign if server is unable to serve): After due search, careful inquiry, and diligent attempts at the dwelling or usual place of abode or usual place of business or work, I have been unable to make personal delivery of this Subpoena in this District on the person named therein for the following reason/s:,
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________

I declare under penalty of perjury that this failure to serve this subpoena has not been induced with conspiracy, bribery, or any form of agreement by this server with the person to be served or with a third party.

3. Information about the Server or Person serving:

Print Full Name- __________________________ (Must sign below)Occupation- __________________________________
Address - ____________________________________
,

Telephone Number/s, ________________ Fax ____________

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the Philippines that the foregoing information is true and correct

Note: Read carefully before signing. Anyone who falsifies a statement in this document shall be liable for indictment of perjury or of obstruction of justice and for punishment by imprisonment.

____________________, 20______ ______________________"
(Date Signed) (Signature) - End of form -

Sample
INVITATION TO APPLY FOR GRAND JURY MEMBERSHIP
"THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF COURT
Of the Judicial District
Within the ________ Jury (Legislative) District of:
_____________________________________
Street Address: _____________________________________
City/Province Address: _______________________________

REGISTERED VOTERS within the Legislative District stated above are invited to file SECRETLY in person an application for Membership in the Grand Jury of this Judicial District located at: Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court
At (Street address)________________________________________
Municipal/City/Province: __________________________________
Official to accept applications: Clerk of Court or his DeputyFiling period: Month of: (_)-June ________ (_)-December ________Number of Applicants invited: NO LIMIT
Number of applicants to be chosen by lottery: 23 citizens to be drawn randomly in court. Application drawn with absent applicant will be deposited back to the Raffle Bin.

Term of Duty, temporary: Limited to 6 months - January to June, and from July to December.

Compensation per day: P350 in Metro Manila or P300 pesos elsewhere plus reward from part of the fine against the convicted offender who was indicted by the grand jury.

Date of Lottery: The first business day of (_)-July __________ (_)-January ___________Hour of lottery to choose grand jury members: To start exactly at 9:00 AM Persons to witness the raffle drawing of applications: Any and/or all Applicants only.

Location: The Court Room of ______________________________
At (Street Address) ______________________________________
Municipality/City/Province: ______________________________
QUALIFICATION: (a) Filipino citizen, male or female, at least 21 years old including senior citizen; (b) A registered voter of the jury district where he will serve as a grand juror; (c) possessed with a bachelor's degree of any kind from a reputable college or university which he must show by his diploma in submitting his application who has not been a member of any fraternity, sorority or mista in any college, university or military school; (d) Must accept to serve with token compensation and contingent reward (e) Not an attorney at law; (f) Not an official or employee of any government instrumentality; (g) Not a son or son-in-law or daughter or daughter-in-law of an official or employee of any government instrumentality; (h) Not a father or father-in-law or mother or mother-in-law of an official or employee of any government instrumentality; (i) Not a brother or brother-in-law or sister orsister-in-law of an official or employee of any government instrumentality; (j) Not been convicted of a crime punishable for 6 months or more; (k) Not currently facing a criminal accusation of any kind in court; (l) Not have been a grand jury member in the last 12 months; (m) Not have been retiredas a government official or employee within the last 12 months; (n)) Has not been recommended or assisted by a public official or by anybody in preparing and filing his application for grand jury membership, (o) Not a member or employee of a media, news, or publishing organization; (p) Not a member of a royal clan or ruling family, or datu, bai, or sultan and/or has no claim for membership of such royal clan or ruling family, or datu, bai, or sultan; and (q) He swears under penalty of perjury in his application that he possesses all the qualification and none of the disqualification for membership in the grand jury. "Government instrumentality"includes government owned or quasi-government entities; and (q) He must submit a Clearance Certificate from the National Bureau of Investigation orregional Philippine National Police Office. WARNING: You will be secretly investigated and indicted for perjury or obstruction of justice by a new set of the Grand Jury if you falsely state your qualification in your application.

JOB TO PERFORM: Strictly secret investigation of crimes with empowerment under the instruction and supervision by an Executive Judge. Your identity will be held in absolute secrecy. You will be given a code as your secret identity number and your name will be secretly held under the custody of the judge. The judge who will betray or disclose your name will be subject to removal from his position and will be liable for disbarment.

This is a sacrificial job of citizens to serve their community to help get rid of lawlessness and government corruption. A Grand Jury is a group of private citizens acting under Grand Jury Instruction to collectively decide independently from government control to investigate serious or capital crimes including government corruption punishable by imprisonment of 12 months or more and to file accusation in court against suspected offenders regardless of their rank and position in the government or in the community upon their finding of probable cause without need of government approval. Grand Jury Instruction and its empowerment will be officiated and issued by an executive judge immediately following the drawing of the names of the newly chosen grand jury members. A Grand Jury action is a sovereign act of the people. Although a grand jury is composed only of 23 private citizens and blindly chosen by lottery, they wield more power than a thousand or more public demonstrators because they can secretly file their accusation in court without government approval by the use of the sovereign power of the people under Article II, Section 1 of the PhilippineConstitution. Since grand jurors are private citizens,vindictive corrupt government officials cannot fire them from their private employment. The job of the grand jury has nothing to do with trial juries. Its function is mainly investigative and prosecutorial. It can investigate as many cases it wishes to andindict as many crime offenders. Once the grand jury has filed its indictment in court, its job is done.

Thereafter, each case will be pursued for trial in court by government prosecutors before another jury, called the trial jury of 12 private citizens with supervision by a presiding judge. The judge cannot decide the case and decided only by the trial jury. Applicants for grand jury membership are required to read the Rules of the Jury System as promulgated by the Supreme Court on ____________________.

The heirs or next of kind of member of a grand jury who dies in the course of jury duty or arising out of jury duty is entitled to a monetary indemnity of two hundred thousand (P200,000) pesos. If incapacitated only, at least fifty thousand (P50,000) pesos payable to the juror, free of tax. This notice has been posted by the Clerk of Court shown above." - End of Form -

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Sample
APPLICATION FOR GRAND JURY MEMBERSHIP
“TO THE CLERK OF COURT
Grand Jury Judicial District
Within the _______ Legislative District of: ______________
Street Address: _____________________________________
City/Province Address: _______________________________
Form GJ- 2 - Application for Grand Jury Membership

(Note: Legible hand-printed information is sufficient to accomplish this form. No need to type)

GREETINGS:

Please enter my name for drawing as an Applicant for membership of the Grand Jury of this Judicial District. I am qualified for grand jury membership as shown below and my [_]-NBI or [_]- PNP Clearance Certificate of the Municipality or City where I reside is herewith [_]-attached:

I am: (a) A Filipino citizen, at least 21 years old; (b) A registered voter of this legislative district; (c) Possessed with bachelor's degree of ________________ from (name of school) ________________________________, a reputable college or university, and a copy of my diploma is attached for which I will exhibit its original upon submission of this application and I have not been a member of any fraternity, sorority or mista in any college or university; (d) I will accept to serve with token compensation of 350 pesos in Metro Manila or 300 pesos elsewhere per day and contingent reward; (e) I am not an attorney at law or bar member; (f) I am not an official or employee of any government instrumentality; (g) I am not a son or son-in-law or daughter or daughter-in-law of an official oremployee of any government instrumentality; (h) I am not a father or mother or father-in-law or mother-in-law of a public official or government employee; (i) I am not a brother or brother-in-law or sister or sister-in-law of an official or employee of any government instrumentality; (j) I have not beenconvicted of a crime punishable for 6 months or more; (k) I am not currently facing a criminal accusation of any kind in court; (l) I have not been a grand jury member in the last 12 months; (m) I have not been retired as a government official or employee within the last 12 months; (n) I have not been recommended or assisted by a public official or by anybody in preparing and filing my application for grand jury membership and (o) I am not a member or employee of a media, news, or publishing organization; (p) I am not a member of a royal clan or ruling family, or datu, bai or sultan. I have no claim for membership of such royal clan or ruling family, or datu, bai, or sultan; and (q) I SWEAR UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY OF THE LAWS of the Philippines in my herein application that I possess all the qualification and none of the disqualification for membership in the grand jury. I understand that I will be secretly investigated and indicted for perjury by a new set of the Grand Jury if I falsely state my qualification in my herein application for membership of the Grand Jury. I HAVEFULLY READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE CONTENTS OF THIS APPLICATION.

Signed and executed at _____________________________ on ________________, year _______.Signature __________________ Printed Name: __________________

Voter's ID#_______________ Phone __________________
Address ___________________________________________

Leave this blank. For Court's use - > Grand Juror's SIDN# _____"NOTE: Top Secret. You must let no body know in applying for Grand Jury Membership. - End of Form

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