De Lima accuser denied liberty

The Court of Appeals (CA) has rejected for lack of merit the bail petition of a convicted bank robber who told a House inquiry that he was involved in the illegal drug trade while serving time at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

In a six-page resolution, the appellate court’s Fifth Division said Roy Gilbert Colanggo, also known as Herbert Colanggo, was not eligible for provisional liberty since he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Parañaque City Regional Trial Court.

The court did not give weight to Colanggo’s argument that he should be released from prison on humanitarian grounds, just as the Supreme Court ruled in the plunder case against former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

In addition, the CA denied the convict’s attempt to open his case by submitting evidence, saying “there is no need” for such, and that it was made “without basis.”

“After a perusal of (Colanggo’s) petition for bail… we find no merit in [it],” the court said in an Oct. 6 resolution, a copy of which was made available to the media on Monday.