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SUPREME COURT
MANILA
- versus -
1
PETITION
under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court for grave abuse of discretion of the
(a) to nullify the Order of said Respondent Judge dated August 2, 2007
14, 2007;
(b) to enjoin and prohibit said Respondent Judge from proceeding any
(c) to order the dismissal of the Information for murder against said
Petitioner and for his immediate release from his current detention.
in the Provincial Jail at Trece Martires City, is the Accused in Crim. Case No. B-
91-245, pending before the Regional Trial Court, Branch 19, at Bacoor, Cavite,
Judge thereat.
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and corporation existing under the laws of the Philippines, consisting of more
than 2,000 local churches and about a million membership, and whose head
including the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, which Council, among others, aims
to promote church action for justice and human rights. Its office is at 879
Epifanio de los Santos, West Triangle, Quezon City, and one of its National
including Bishops of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and which
Forum is committed to the continuing advocacy for peace and human rights in
Philippine communities. Its office is at Rm. 212, Pope Pius XII Catholic Center,
Pastor BERLIN V. GUERRERO is, and has for years been, a seminary student
and scholar.
organizations, with their offices located at No. 7 First Street, Acacia Lane,
3
Mandaluyong City, and whose major program, among others, is to improve the
system of law and justice in the country, both in the ways of national
Salonga.
the Regional Trial Court, Branch 19, at Bacoor, Cavite, and whose Order dated
14, 2007. Under the Rules (Rule 65, Sec. 4, par. 1), said Petitioner has sixty
days from notice of Order within which to file the Petition. Thus, this Petition is
the very urgent need for intervention of this Honorable Court, considering that
delay in the resolution of the issue would further aggravate the physical
detention since May 27, 2007 under circumstances of extreme hazards to his
life, brought about by the pains and the beatings he underwent in connection
with his abduction, as will hereafter be further referred to. It will be noted from
the records that it took the Respondent Judge near two months before issuing
4
the herein assailed Order. This despite said Petitioners urgent motion and
representation for Respondent Judge not to delay the issuance of his resolution.
-1-
Minister of the Gospel with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines
(UCCP), at about 5 PM of May 27, 2007, was abducted by unknown armed men
of the UCCP Local Church at Malaban, Bian, Laguna, at which Local Church
he was then the Administrative Pastor. At the time of the abduction, he, together
with his wife and their two teenage children, was already aboard a tricycle, on
their way to the UCCP Local Church at nearby Calamba City where he was
fellow church worker who, exactly a year earlier, had been slain by masked
assasins.
-2-
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(b) He was then forcibly dragged at gunpoint by
forms of torture;
him of oxygen;
Legal Report issued by Dr. Jesse Rey T. Cruel of the Commission on Human
Rights and the Medical Evaluation of Torture and Ill-Treatment issued by Dr.
Reginaldo Pamugas of the Health Action for Human Rights in regard to their
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only after the lapse of two days following the abduction. During said physical
examination, pictures were taken of him, copies of which being hereto attached
-3-
It was at about 10:00 a.m. of May 28, 2007, the day following his
Camp Pantaleon Garcia at Imus, Cavite, and which became his initial place of
arrest, issued on December 28, 1992 (nearly fifteen years earlier) pursuant to an
alleged case of Murder. But throughout his long hours of interrogation and
ordeal, he was never questioned on matters relating to said case. Neither was he
ever shown a copy of the warrant for his arrest, nor ever informed of the nature
of accusation against him. Only later that day (May 28, 2007) was he informed
about the supposed filing of the case at Bacoor, Cavite. But he was not told of
any vital details, such as when and where the incident was supposed to have
-4-
In any event, when his relatives had finally managed to obtain copies of
the records of said case, the following facts stood out, most patently and vividly,
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at the Regional Trial Court of Bacoor, Cavite. He
S: Sisikapin ko po.
8
Copy of the record of the preliminary investigation,
9
-5-
During all this entire period, from the isuance of the arrest order until his
abduction -- which spans nearly fifteen (15) years -- he had been a very public
figure, had gone about his activities unmolested as Church Pastor and as student
invited to church conferences abroad; yet throughout all this time, he was totally
unaware, and had not the least notion, of the existence of the aforestated
-6-
abduction, the PNP High Command, led by Gen. Oscar Calderon, Chief of the
Philippine National Police, sought a Dialogue with leaders of the United Church
circumstances relative to his illegal and violent arrest and incarceration effected
10
dito. Yon ang ano natin. We will ask the commander
to identify the person. x x (p. 14, last par.,
transcript of the Dialogue)
-7-
religious worker while in the midst of carrying out his work and mission as a
Church Pastor, has aroused the protests and outrage, the herein co- Petitioners
and also of numerous other concerned groups and institutions, locally and
abroad.
-8-
abduction and illegal incarceration, filed with the Regional Trial Court, Branch
19, at Bacoor, Cavite, presided over by Respondent Judge, an Urgent Motion for
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the Release of the Accused (With Complimentary Prayer to Quash Warrant of
Arrest and to Dismiss Information), dated June 14, 2007, a copy of which being
to Resolve Pending Incident, dated July 11, 2007, a copy of which being hereto
(For the Provisional Custody of Accused by the Executive Head of the United
Church of Christ in the Philippines), dated July 24, 2007, a copy of which being
-9-
Respondent Judge later issued his herein assailed Order (ANNEX A),
dated August 2, 2007, DENYING both the basic motion for said Petitioners
release (ANNEX F), dated June14, 2007, as well as the motion for his
provisional custody by the UCCP Executive Head (ANNEX F-2), dated July 24,
2007.
absolutely was no legal basis for his arrest and continued incarceration.
silent about them, in casting aside all the undisputed and uncontested data which
should otherwise compel and make imperative the grant of said Motion.
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ESSENTIAL DISCUSSION
FIRST: The record glaringly bears out that the Information was filed
SECOND. The records are likewise very clear that the subsequent
Court, was issued out merely as a matter of course, without probable cause,
iniquitous aspect in the case and this the Respondent Judge again ignored,
and to which nothing at all was said in his Order -- in that the basic human
Fernando Hinto, there is nothing that can link Berlin Guerrero to the crime
charged (ANNEX C). Yet, in complete and stark violation of the basic rules on
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Verano nevertheless gave due course to the filing of Information against
(ANNEX D), she referred to the affidavit of witness Hinto which was taken by
the police investigators but, at the same time, underscored in the same
Resolution, her NOT having examined said witness, and her NOT having even
seen him.
As so ruled by this Honorable Court in the case of Salonga vs. Pao, 134
SCRA 438:
Again, in the most recent case of Vicente P. Ladlad, et. al vs. Emmanuel
Y. Velasco, G.R. Nos. 172070-72, promulgated June 1, 2007, the above doctrine
14
A preliminary investigation is the crucial sieve
in the criminal justice system which spells for an
individual the difference between months if not years
of agonizing trial and possibly jail term, on the one
hand, and peace of mind and liberty, on the other
hand. Thus, we have characterized the right to a
preliminary investigation as not a mere formal or
technical right but a substantive one, forming part
of due process in criminal justice. This specially holds
true here where the offense charged is punishable by
reclusion perpetua and maybe non-bailable for those
accused as principals.
gravely abused his discretion in issuing the assailed Order -- in ignoring what
the Regional Trial Court, came out merely as a matter of course, without
probable cause, and without Judge Pastoral conducting the required personal
Under the present assailed Order, the foregoing grievous flow was, with
From the records, the Warrant of Arrest was issued by Judge Pastoral
without any factual or legal basis which should follow a judicial determination
363 [1915] is the existence of such facts and circumstances as would excite the
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belief, in a reasonable mind, acting on the facts within the knowledge of the
prosecutor, that the person charged was guilty of the crime for which he was
prosecuted. In Lim v.Felix, 187 SCRA 788, cited in the case of Allado vs.
And in Ho v. People (280 SCRA 365, October 9, 1997), the Supreme Court
the foregoing fundamental error that was committed when said warrant of arrest
was issued.
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ON THE THIRD POINT: RECORDS REVEAL
BLATANT TORTURE AND ABUSE
The records blaringly point to a very iniquitous aspect in the case and
this the Respondent Judge again ignored, and to which nothing at all was said in
his assailed Order -- in that the basic human rights of Petitioner Pastor
trampled upon by those who were duty-bound to uphold them. His arresting
officers -- or, more accurately, his kidnappers -- made the arrest without
showing said Petitioner the warrant of arrest . . was interrogated without counsel
execution . . . . was intimidated with horrifying harm that would befall his
(ANNEXES E, E-1, E-2, and E-3), and sustained by the medical findings on
said Petitioner (ANNEXES B, B-2, B-3, B-4, B-5, and B-6). This Honorable
Court, in the case Allado vs. Diokno cited above, has condemned similar
vicious acts:
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CONCLUSION
despite the express finding and observation of the Municipal Trial Judge who
AGAINST HIM.
Thereafter, the Regional Trial Court which issued the Warrant of Arrest
Indeed, all these are completely foreign and antithetical to our kind of society
that is held out to be governed by the rule of law. To all of these, the
thus:
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investigation by the prosecutor, which ascertains if the
respondent should be held for trial, or a preliminary
inquiry by the trial judge which determines if an arrest
warrant should issue, the bottomline is that there is a
standard in the determination of the existence of
probable cause, i.e., there should be facts and
circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to
warrant a prudent and cautious man to believe that
the accused is guilty of the crime with which he is
charged. Judges and prosecutors are not off on a frolic
of their own, but rather engaged in a delicate legal
duty defined by law and jurisprudence. x - x
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Let this then be a constant reminder to judges,
prosecutors and other government agents tasked with
the enforcement of the law that in the performance of
their duties they must act with circumspection, lest
their thoughtless ways, methods and practices cause a
disservice to their office and maim their countrymen
they are sworn to serve and protect. We thus caution
government agents, particularly the law enforcers, to
be more prudent in the prosecution of cases and not to
be oblivious of human rights protected by the
fundamental law. While we greatly applaud their
determined efforts to weed society of felons, let not
their impetuous eagerness violate constitutional
precepts which circumscribe the structure of a
civilized community.
PRAYER
mandamus be issued: (a) annulling the assailed Order of the Respondent Judge,
dated August 2, 2007; (b) enjoining and prohibiting said Respondent Judge
GUERRERO, and (c) ordering and compelling the immediate release of said
3. Petitioners pray for such other reliefs and remedies as are warranted by
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August 24, 2007
JOVITO R. SALONGA
Kilosbayan House
No. 7 First Street, Acacia Lane
Mandaluyong City
IBP O.R. No. 675771
Issued Pasig City, Feb. 14, 2006
Attorneys Roll No. 23
EVELYN R. DOMINGUEZ
Civic Center Compound (LTO-Imus)
Gen. E. Aguinaldo Highway
Palico IV,Imus, Cavite
IBP O.R. No. 633318
Issued Imus, Cavite, Dec. 4, 2006
Attorneys Roll No. 32184
FLORIN T. HILBAY
Kilosbayan House
No. 7 First Street, Acacia Lane
Mandaluyong City
IBP O.R. No. 691304
Issued Manila, Nov. 30, 2006
Attorneys Roll No. 44957
BY:
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VERIFICATION/CETIFICATION
Mandaluyong City
22
ROMEO L. DEL ROSARIO JOVITO R. SALONGA
CTC No. 700517056 CTC No. 18156051
Issued at Damarias Cavite Issued at Pasig City
Issued on May 23, 2007 Issued on Jan. 30, 2007
ATTACHMENTS:
ANNEX A - the duplicate original of Order of the Respondent Judge, dated August 2, 2007.
ANNEX B and B-1, respectively, copy of the Medico-Legal Report issued by Dr. Jesse Rey T.
Cruel of the Commission on Human Rights and copy of the Medical Evaluation of Torture
and Ill-Treatment issued by Dr. Reginaldo Pamugas of the Health Action for Human Rights
ANNEXES B-2, B-3, B-4, B-5, B-6, B-7, and B-8 pictures taken during the physical examination.
ANNEX C - Copy of the record of the preliminary investigation, covering the examination of
Ederlinda Yatco as conducted by Judge Myrna V. Lim-Verano.
ANNEX D - Copy of the Resolution issued by Judge Verano, dated February 28, 1991.
ANNEX E, E-1, E-2, and E-3 - Copy of the minutes, and relevant portions, of the Dialogue
between leaders of the UCCP and the High Command of the PNP.
ANNEX F - Copy of the Urgent Motion for the release of Petitioner Guerrero (With Complimentary
Prayer to Quash Warrant of Arrest and to Dismiss Information), dated June 14, 2007.
ANNEX F-1. - Copy of an Urgent Ex-Parte Motion to Resolve Pending Incident, dated July 11, 2007.
23
ANNEX F-2 - Copy of an Urgent Motion (For the Provisional Custody of Accused by the Executive
Head of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines), dated July 24, 2007.
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