‘Ilocos 6’ ask CA to rule on their case

The Court of Appeals (CA) has been asked to resolve the merits of the habeas corpus case filed by the six Ilocos Norte employees who have been detained since May 29 on a contempt citation by a committee of the House of Representatives.

In a motion filed last Friday afternoon, the detained employees who have been referred to as the “Ilocos 6” asked the CA to hand down a decision that will declare illegal their continued detention which, they said, “is a form of torture.”

“Four weeks later, with a pending habeas corpus petition and a court order for their release, the petitioners still find themselves without any right to liberty, with no reprieve in sight, and with no recourse to justice,” they said.

A writ of habeas corpus “is directed to a person detaining another and commanding the former to produce the body of the latter at a designated time and place.” It extends to all cases of illegal or arbitrary detention.

They said that they could never recover the four weeks that they have spent in detention on a contempt citation.

“The Honorable Court, by exercising its power to issue the extraordinary writ of habeas corpus, may still relieve petitioners of the protracted and arbitrary deprivation of their liberty,” they stressed in a motion filed through their lawyer, former solicitor general and justice minister Estelito P. Mendoza.

The six employees – Pedro Agcaoili, Evangeline Tabulog, Josephine Calajate, Eden Battulayan, Genedine Jambaro and Encarnacion Gaor – were ordered detained by the House committee on good government and public accountability in connection with its investigation into the R66.45 million purchase of motor vehicles by the provincial government.

They allegedly refused to answer or their answers were evasive and not acceptable to the lawmakers conducting the investigation.

Immediately, they filed a writ of habeas corpus with the CA, which, on June 9, 2017, after House seargeant-at-arms Roland Detabali failed to attend the hearings several times, issued a resolution directing the release of the six employees on a bond of R30,000 each.

But the release order could not be implemented because of the refusal of Detabali and the House leadership to accept and recognize the CA’s power to issue the order or to act on a habeas corpus case.

The House committee even issued a show cause order against CA Associate Justices Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon, and Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, who issued the release order, to explain why they should not be cited in contempt.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez also threatened the three CA justices with disbarment and the abolition of the appellate court.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno, CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., the national leadership of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and its chapter in Ilocos Norte have asked the House committee to recall its show cause order against the three CA justices.

The pleas invoked the separation of powers, judicial independence, and the rule of law.

The six employees said there was no attempt on their part to refuse to answer the questions of the lawmakers.

In their motion, they stated that Calajate, in particular, merely asked to be given more time to see the original documents, while Gaor and Jambaro admitted not remembering the transactions in question.

In the case of Tabulog, she said she was “not so sure” if she signed the documents as the logbooks and registry being referred to have already been destroyed.

Agcaoili said he “does not remember all the transactions” as he has handled thousands of procurements, while Battulayan said she does not remember signing a voucher for the cash advance.