• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Regional Trial Court Branch 79 dismissed the petition for habeas corpus filed against PMaj. Eugene Tolentino and PLt. Col. Joery Puerto, both of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), in connection with the arrest of six leaders of transport groups on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
The petition of Lilian Sembrano, Rudy Catedral, Shalimar Saleut, Rodolfo Gardose, Eric Bindoy and Melchor Umangayon was filed by their legal counsels Rey Gorgonio and Lydio Apawan Jr.
The writ of habeas corpus is an order issued by a court directing a person detaining another to produce the physical body of the detainee at a designated time and place, and to explain the reason for the detention.
When Presiding Judge Ferdinand Elbert Jomilla heard the petition invoking the right against the unwarranted arrest of the six, their counsels were nowhere to be found.
Based on the petition submitted to the court, there is no proof that respondents Tolentino and Puerto have been furnished with a copy of the petition.
“Likewise, there is no proof that they were notified of the time and date of the hearing, as requested by the counsels for the petitioner,” the judge noted.
“More so, the present petition suffers an infirmity considering that the petitioner and his counsel/s are not in court to argue their case despite its alleged urgency,” Jomilla further said.
It is considered that the six petitioners were detained because they were in the act of staging a protest action in front of the L’ Fisher Hotel along Lacson Street in Bacolod City, where a transportation summit regarding the implementation of the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program was being held.
This may have been the reason for their arrest, which is presumably done in the regular course of the duty of the respondents under Section 5 of Rule 113 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure, Jomilla added.
“The charges, if any, filed against the allegedly detained persons have not even been raised. All that is claimed by the petitioner is that the six detained persons have not been charged. However, there is no proof presented by the petitioner, or in the petition, that six persons were actually detained, as of this moment,” the judge said.
PCol. Joeresty Coronica, BCPO chief, said that the six protestors caused traffic to halt, refused to leave despite repeated requests from the police, and turned rowdy as firefighters started hosing them with water.
Coronica added that the protesters hurled stones at the police.
“They previously entered the lobby of the Bacolod City Government Center to stage a protest,” he said.
Sembrano told the media that they simply wanted to enter the hotel to speak with the Department of Transportation and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board officials, claiming it was their right to defend the livelihood of drivers.
She said that the alleged harassment by the police, including the use of force and a water cannon, was considered a “violation of human rights.”
Coronica alleged that the protesters had come prepared, bringing stones to the rally.
“This time, we must insist that we are a government of laws, not of men,” he added.
While the BCPO “respects freedom of expression, it must be exercised at the proper place and time,” Coronica said. | GB
