Gatdula wins protection from being ‘framed’

MANILA, Philippines—Ousted National Bureau of Investigation head Magtanggol Gatdula obtained a court order on Tuesday to prevent his being framed in the ambush of an NBI deputy director on Feb. 21.

Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26 Judge Silvino Pampilo granted Gatdula’s petition for a writ of amparo, which Gatdula had sought to restrain the Department of Justice and the NBI from threatening his “life, liberty and security” in connection with the ambush of NBI deputy director for technical services Reynaldo Esmeralda.

Esmeralda’s SUV was strafed by unidentified gunmen as his two-car convoy was running on a street in Paco, Manila, last month. No one was killed in the incident, with only Esmeralda’s brother sustaining a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Possible ‘rubout’

But Gatdula, naming Esmeralda, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and NBI officer in charge Nonnatus Rojas as respondents in his petition, believed the ambush was staged in order to frame him, get him arrested and possibly killed in a “rubout.”

He said De Lima and Esmeralda held him “implicitly responsible” for the ambush when they aired theories it may have been related to the kidnapping of Japanese national Noriyo Ohara, which Gatdula and other NBI agents are being accused of.

Ohara was arrested by the NBI in October for being an undocumented alien. She alleged the NBI extorted at least P6 million for her release. The kidnapping case led to Gatdula being sacked from the NBI. He is currently being investigated by a justice department panel despite a preliminary injunction he obtained from another Manila court to stop the probe.

In earlier hearings in Pampilo’s court, Gatdula’s camp presented two witnesses who said armed goons were looking for Gatdula days after the ambush.

“Constitutional rights require utmost protection,” Pampilo said, in a four-page order.

Pampilo also granted subsequent “interim reliefs,” namely, a temporary protection order to secure Gatdula and his immediate family, an inspection order allowing Gatdula’s camp to inspect Esmeralda’s strafed vehicle, and a production order for the medical, forensic, ballistic reports and other documents relating to the ambush.

On March 8, Pampilo granted a temporary protection order, but he further ordered on Tuesday that it be “effective until further notice.” He directed the Police Security and Protection Group of the Philippine National Police to carry out the security measures.

The inspection order, meanwhile, allows Gatdula’s camp to photograph the Esmeralda’s vehicle on March 26 and 27 at 9 a.m. at NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue.

Copy of documents

The production order, on the other hand, directs the NBI, DOJ and Manila Doctors Hospital to submit certified true copies of documents relating to the ambush on March 28 and 29 at 9 a.m.

Answering the respondents’ arguments that Gatdula was not entitled to a writ of amparo since there was no actual occurrence of deprivations of his life, liberty and security, Pampilo reasoned that “[Gatdula] cannot be expected to wait until such time that he is already shot at or illegally detained to file a petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo.”