CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines?The Court of Appeals here on Friday issued a writ of amparo for members of the Ampatuan family against the military, the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

The petition for the writ was filed by lawyers Anwar Khalid Maliawao and Rex Jasper Lopoz on behalf of Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and his father, Maguindanao Governor Andal Sr. on Thursday.

In their petition, Maliawao and Lopoz asked the court to order the military, the PNP and the NBI to lift restrictions on the movement of the Ampatuans, their supporters and lawyers.

They argued that their clients and the others restricted inside the houses of the Ampatuans in Shariff Aguak were being arbitrarily detained although there were no charges against them.

Beverly Sabio-Beja, assistant clerk of court, said Justice Romulo Borja of the court?s 21st Division granted the petition and penned the resolution, which was issued 10 a.m. Friday.

?The resolution is just an immediate relief for the Ampatuans against the respondents,? Beja said.

But she said the respondents, including Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, 6th Infantry Division Commander Major General Anthon Alcantara, 601th Infantry Brigade chief Colonel Leo Crisente Ferrer, and 46th Infantry Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Joel Paloma, were given five days or until December 9 to respond to the writ.

?That is also the scheduled hearing,? Beja said.

Karapatan-Northern Mindanao Chair Beverly Musni said that even if the writ was issued in Cagayan de Oro, it is enforceable anywhere in the country.

Integrated Bar of the Philippines Misamis Oriental?Cagayan de Oro Chapter president Dale Mordeno said the issuance of the writ effectively awarded the Ampatuans their freedom of movement.

?The granting of the writ of amparo means that the Ampatuans should be made free to go about with their lives until the court says otherwise,? said Mordeno.

He said it also meant that the military has to remove the ropes from the gates of the residences of the Ampatuans.

Reacting to the issuance of the writ of amparo to the Ampatuans, Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr. said they will abide by the court?s decision.

But he said their lawyers were already preparing the military?s answer to the writ.

?So we will abide with the decision of the court. Meantime, the Armed Forces will continue to reposition our troops in the area and we will continue to protect the Ampatuan family and we will continue to restrict people from going out and entering the area,? he said.

Brawner repeated that the restriction would not be lifted despite the writ.

?By leaving the house, it?s tantamount to allowing people to kill them (Ampatuans),? he said.

Carlos Isagani Zarate, secretary general of the Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), said the issuance of the writ showed that the law was working in Maguindanao.

He said what was objectionable in the military?s action in Maguindanao was that the freedom of people, including lawyers working for the family, were being curtailed.

?We are very alarmed and very concerned for our colleagues, who cannot do their jobs because of the restriction,? he said.

Zarate said that Brawner was correct when he said the military can still answer the writ.

With a report from Joselle Badilla, Inquirer Mindanao