Gatdula skips initial probe of his case

Sacked National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Magtanggol Gatdula was a no-show at the opening on Monday of the Department of Justice (DOJ) preliminary investigation into his alleged participation in the kidnap-extortion case involving a Japanese national.

Lawyer Abraham Espejo, Gatdula’s counsel, said his client failed to attend the hearing because they had pending petitions before the Manila Regional Trial Court and the DOJ to stop the preliminary investigation.

“If we attended the hearing, that would have made our petition moot,” Espejo said.

Gatdula was sacked for his alleged involvement in kidnapping and extorting money from undocumented Japanese national Noriyo Ohara, the complainant in the case.

The DOJ panel, composed of Assistant State Prosecutors Juan Pedro Navera, Irwin Maraya and Hazel Decena-Valdez, ordered Ohara to answer Gatdula’s petition to suspend the preliminary investigation.

Gatdula’s fellow respondent, Virgilito Gutierrez, asked the panel to dismiss the case or transfer the venue of the preliminary investigation to the Manila city prosecutor’s office.

Gutierrez, one of Gatdula’s close aides, said the case was “totally lacking of legal and factual basis to warrant the filing of the charges for kidnapping, robbery and other charges against the respondents.”

Gutierrez and his fellow respondents, NBI Security Management Division chief Mario Garcia and Gatdula’s special assistant Raul Dimaano, attended the hearing yesterday. Philip C. Tubeza