LACSON NOW A FREE MAN: COURT OF APPEALS DECLARED MANHUNT ILLEGAL
MANILA, MARCH 21, 2011 (MANILA TIMES) BY JOMAR CANLAS REPORTER - SEN. PANFILO "Ping" Lacson is now a free man and could return to the Senate immediately.
This was the ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA), which also declared that the Department of Justice's standing order for the senator's arrest and detention could be a ground for a possible criminal charge of arbitrary detention against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
In a 16-page resolution of the appellate court's Special 16th Division, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, the court said that the ruling automatically lifted the warrant of arrest issued against Lacson and immediately nullifies his indictment before the Regional Trial Court of Manila in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double-murder case.
The appellate court promulgated the ruling, written by Associate Justice Ramon Bato Jr., on March 18, 2011.
It stressed that the lifting of the arrest warrant against Lacson is immediately executory, unless the Supreme Court, through preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order, restrains the appellate court.
The CA ruling also effectively denied a motion for reconsideration filed by the government and witness Cezar Mancao 2nd for lack of merit.
"Accordingly, petitioner's [Lacson] Urgent Motion for Clarification dated February 7, 2011 is granted. The nullification of the arrest warrants is hereby declared immediately executory. All the respondents, their agents, any peace officer of law enforcer, or anybody acting on their behalf, are permanently enjoined from enforcing and implementing the arrest warrants issued in Criminal Cases Nos. 10272905 & 10272906," the dispositive portion of the ruling states.
The appellate court, moreover, scored de Lima's statements before the media that a manhunt for Lacson could still be enforced since its dismissal of the case against the senator is not yet immediately executory.
"That clarification [made by Lacson] is urgently needed because the position taken by the Secretary of Justice and the PNP [Philippine National Police] is a continuing threat to his liberty and defeats the very essence of the court's ruling that there is no probable cause against him and he should be spared of the pain and agony of trial and arrest," the CA said.
It pointed out "that the arrest warrants against petitioner [Lacson] are deemed automatically lifted when the criminal cases against him were dismissed."
The appellate court explained that the nullification of the arrest warrants, like judgments in actions for injunction under Section 4 of Rule 39, is immediately executory and cannot be stayed by an appeal.
With the dismissal of the non-bailable offense for murder against Lacson, the appellate court ordered to allow the senator to surface and continue to perform his function as a senator to fulfill the mandate he got from the people who voted for him.
"We should now allow the petitioner [Lacson] to perform his job in the Senate. The threats to arrest petitioner would not only be a violation of his constitutional right to liberty, but also be a deprivation of the sovereign right of the people particularly the millions of electorates who voted him to office the right of representation in the Senate," it said.
Arbitrary detention In view of the pronouncement made by De Lima, the appelllate warned that those who would arrest Lacson could be charged with arbitrary detention.
The CA stressed that such arrest would also be a clear violation of the senator's right to liberty guaranteed under the 1987 Constitution.
"Also, with the nullification of the arrest warrant and the dismissal of the criminal cases, a public officer who will arrest and detain petitioner may be criminally liable for arbitrary detention. The crime of arbitrary detention is committed by a public officer who, without legal grounds, detains a person," the CA explained.
The appellate court pointed out that "between the right of the state to enforce the arrest warrant we nullified and set-aside for lack of probable cause and the constitutional right to liberty of the petitioner, the latter prevails."
"Since we ordered the dismissal of the two informations for murder due to the absence of probable cause, the petitioner who is not in custody could no longer be placed in custody. It would be absurd and anomalous to implement the arrest warrants we nullified and set aside.
In other words, there is no legal basis to arrest the petitioner," the CA ruling stated. It said that since the arrest warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court of Manila was deemed to be immediately executory, the appellate court's lifting of the warrant should also be immediately executory.
The CA opined, "If the nullification of a warrant of arrest is not immediately executory as advocated by the respondents, we will have a grotesque and ludicrous situation where the accused could be arrested and imprisoned despite the nullification of the arrest warrant by a higher court."
In addition, it also junked the plea of Mancao to intervene in the case because he is not the proper party to do so.
The appellate court pointed out that only the Solicitor General might bring or defend actions on behalf of the government.
Mancao has no legal personality to intervene and file a motion for reconsideration, asking for the reversal of the CA ruling on February 3, 2011, because he is not an accused in the criminal cases but only a witness against Lacson.
The appellate court pointed out that the Regional Trial Court of Manila committed grave abuse of discretion by holding a trial without considering the witnesses for Lacson and his counter-affidavit.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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