Ex-NBI chief won’t go to DoJ probe

MANILA, Philippines—Dismissed National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Magtanggol Gatdula will not be showing up if asked to appear in a Department of Justice (DoJ) probe into the kidnapping complaint filed by an illegal immigrant, Gatdula’s lawyer Abraham Espejo said Thursday.

On Tuesday, Japanese Noriyo Ohara finally filed with the DoJ kidnapping complaints against Gatdula and NBI security officers.

Ohara was arrested by the NBI in October 2011 for being an undocumented alien. The case has been the subject of a DOJ fact-finding probe since December. In January, the fact-finding panel released a report recommending that kidnapping and serious illegal detention complaints be filed against Gatdula.

The recommendation led to the sacking of Gatdula by President Aquino.

To defend himself, Gatdula has filed a certiorari petition with the Manila regional trial courts seeking to nullify the DOJ fact-finding panel and its report.

The petition also sought a preliminary injunction that would stop the implementation of the fact-finding panel’s recommendations, including that of filing criminal complaints and conducting a preliminary investigation against Gatdula.

While the petition is being heard in his sala, Manila RTC Branch 8 Judge Felixberto Olalia Jr. granted a temporary restraining order against the DOJ fact-finding panel. The TRO is set to lapse on February 20.

It was this court order that Espejo alleged was “disrespected” and “disregarded” by the DOJ, when they still pushed through with the probe on Gatdula following Ohara’s complaint.

“If they will continue with their preliminary investigation, we will file a motion to suspend proceedings because we still have a pending case [at the Manila RTC],” Gatdula told reporters on Thursday.

“Why would we show up there [at the preliminary investigation]? That would be throwing away all we’ve worked for here [at the Manila RTC],” Espejo said.

Espejo made the statements after Thursday’s hearing on Gatdula’s petition in Olalia’s sala. The Manila judge deferred resolving the petition, after the Office of the Solicitor General, representing Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and the DoJ fact-finding panel, filed a motion to have Gatdula’s petition declared “moot and academic.”

“We don’t know if our [petition for preliminary injunction] will be granted, but as to whether Secretary De Lima, would follow it, we no longer know. At the rate things are going, it seems it is no longer trendy to follow court orders,” a sarcastic Espejo said, in Filipino.

He averred that Ohara was simply pressured by the DoJ into signing a criminal complaint against Gatdula.