temporary liberty of detained Bayan Muna President and House Deputy
Minority Leader Satur C. Ocampo.
This was one of the outcomes of the oral arguments yesterday before
the tribunal, where former United Nations Ad Litem Judge Romeo T.
Capulong defended Ocampo's petition for certiorari against
Solicitor-General Agnes Devanadera.
Capulong was flanked by lawyers Rachel Pastores and Ameh Sato, both of
the Public Interest Law Center.
In his oral arguments, Capulong presented seven compelling reasons why
the court should grant Ocampo's petition which seeks to nullify the
murder case and to quash the arrest warrant issued him by a local
court in Hilongos, Leyte.
According to Bayan Muna General Counsel Neri Javier Colmenares, the
oral arguments resulted in two victories for Ocampo.
"The justices observed that the Information filed against Ocampo were
fatally flawed, and that the offenses imputed against Ocampo may very
well be absorbed by the pending rebellion case in Makati City in
accordance with the Hernandez doctrine," said Colmenares.
Colmenares also pointed out that the solicitor-general rejected all
possibility of Ocampo's release even as the justices themselves raised
the prospects that the court may order the solon's temporary release,
release on bail, or reinvestigation of the charge against him . "Ayaw
lang talagang palayain si Satur at gusto nilang makalaboso siya kahit
pa walang batayan."
One justice went so far as to lecture Devanadera on a legal basis for
Ocampo's possible release: "Since we may find the Information to be
defective and thus pave the way for a reinvestigation, the warrant of
arrest would have no basis whatsoever."
Reacting to the solicitor-general's assertion that Ocampo's petition
at the Supreme Court was illegal and that the activist leader should
have availed himself of remedies in the Hilongos, Leyte court,
Colmenares said: "The government's counsel argues that instead of
going to the High Court, Ocampo should go to highly-militarized Leyte,
get imprisoned there, and risk his life merely to ask the local judge
to quash the warrant he himself issued."
"That's not a remedy," said Colmenares. "That's suicide."
Replying to queries of justices why Ocampo rushed to the Supreme
Court, and not availed himself of remedies in the Hilongos, Leyte
court, the Court of Appeals and the Department of Justice, Capulong
pointed out that "the assailed Resolution of Prosecutor Rosulo Vivero
is dated February 16, 2007 and approved by respondent Prosecutor Merin
on February 21, 2007. The Information was filed on February 28, 2007
and the warrant of arrest was issued on March 6, 2007."
According to Capulong, "we received a copy of the Resolution by
registered mail by Judge Ephrem Abando on March 12, 2007. In short,
respondent prosecutors delayed the service of the assailed Resolution
by nineteen days counted from the date of approval by respondent Merin
on February 21, 2007 until actual receipt by petitioner via registered
mail."
"The delay in furnishing the petitioner a copy of the assailed
resolution was deliberate and intended to deprive petitioner of his
legal remedies to file a motion for reconsideration, a petition for
review in the Office of the Secretary of Justice and/or a petition for
certiorari and prohibition in the appellate courts. The scheme
deprived petitioner of his right to due process," said Capulong. ###
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