Housing developer Delfin Lee INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Detained businessman Delfin Lee, head of Globe Asiatique, on Monday asked the Supreme Court to order his release from detention and dismiss the petitions filed by the Department of Justice and the Home Development Mutual fund (Pag-IBIG).
In a 76-page motion, Lee, through his lawyer Emmanuel Pichay, said the appeals court’s Nov. 7, 2013 ruling that ordered the lifting of the warrant of arrest should be implemented.
His motion added that the separate petitions filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Pag-Ibig Fund should be dismissed.
“After due considerations, it is respectfully prayed that Petition for Review on Certiorari filed by both petitioners People and HDMF be dismissed for utter lack of merit and that the same be expunged from the records,” Lee said.
“In the meantime, and while petitioners People and HDMF would file a motion for reconsideration of the dismissal of the instant petition, [it] respectfully prays that the recall, quashal and lifting of the warrant of arrest against him by the Court of Appeals be immediately implemented and that an order be issued that is effective immediately restraining/enjoining the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and all law enforcement officers and agencies to cease and desist from implementing any warrants of arrest or alias warrant of arrest issued,” he said.
He also argued that even if the State has every right to prosecute and punish violators of the law, it does not give or confer a carte blanche license to defy and disregard the rights of its citizens under the Constitution.
“Confinement, regardless of duration, is too high a price to pay for reckless and impulsive prosecution,” he added.
Lee also urged the high court to direct the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to cease and desist from implementing the hold departure order (HDO) handed down against him by the Pampanga trial court hearing the case.
Lee also accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of violating the rules on forum shopping. He said the DOJ failed and PAG-IBIG failed to disclose the pendency of other cases, which were disclosed in the certificate of non-forum shopping attached in the petition for review of Pag-IBIG for cases involving Lee’s company, Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corporation and Pag-IBIG.
Among the pending cases are Gonzales vs GA filed before the Angeles City RTC Branch 60, Valbuena vs GA filed in the same Angeles City court, Rosco vs GA and Berberabe vs GA filed before the appellate court, Ylarde vs GA and De Leon vs GA filed before Angeles City RTC Branch 56 and 57 respectively, Agravante vs GA and Antonio vs GA filed before the Housing Land Use Regulatory Board, and NBI vs Lee filed before the DOJ.
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