Napoles’ brother loses bid to recall warrant of arrest

MANILA, Philippines—The Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed the bid of Reynald Lim to recall the warrant of arrest issued against him by the Makati City Regional Trial Court in connection with the serious illegal detention case filed by whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

The Court of Appeals. FILE PHOTO

In a 20-page decision, the appeals court 7th division through Associate Justice Noel Tijam said Makati Court Judge Elmo Alameda did not abuse his discretion when he ordered Lim’s arrest.

“Petitioner [Reynald Lim] have failed to prove by credible and convincing evidence that Respondent Judge Almeda acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction,” the appeals court said adding that Lim also failed to prove that he is entitled to a restraining order to stop his arrest.

Lim in his petition accused Judge Alameda of acting “whimsically and arbitrarily when he denied the motion for judicial determination of probable cause and issued the warrant of arrest even before the motion be heard.”

His counsel also said that Lim is “a very sick man and can die anytime.”

But the appeals court said Lim’s condition “cannot be treated as falling within the ambit of emergency or extraordinary situation that may, to a large extent entitle him to the issuance of an injunction as a relief.”

The appeals court said Lim merely “perceived” the so called grave abuse committed by the lower court.

“Thus, petitioner’s disquisition that respondent Judge Alameda acted with inordinate haste in issuing the assailed orders or that he did not conduct a personal evaluation of the evidence presented, is at best, a conjecture without empirical basis.”

A case for serious illegal detention was filed by Luy against Janet Lim-Napoles and her brother Reynald. Luy alleged that siblings Janet Napoles and Reynald Lim instigated his abduction from Dec. 2012 to March 2013 to stop him from revealing to authorities knowledge about Napoles’ involvement in the multi-billion peso “pork barrel” scam.

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