Gatdula wins TRO extension

Dismissed National Bureau of Investigation director Magtanggol Gatdula won a small victory on Tuesday when  a Manila regional court granted a 20-day extension of its earlier order suspending any criminal probe on Gatdula in connection with the kidnapping and illegal detention case of Japanese immigrant Noriyo Ohara.

Judge Felixberto Olalia Jr. granted Gatdula’s petition for an extension of a previous 3-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against a fact-finding panel recommendation that he be subjected to a preliminary investigation, which had lapsed on Monday.

Gatdula had petitioned for the TRO to stop the Department of Justice fact-finding panel from “issuing any further report or recommendation to any government agency, which … could be the basis of filing a criminal case against him,” Olalia explained.

In his resolution granting Gatdula’s petition, Olalia said the basis of Gatdula’s petition was that the evidence used to arrive at the panel’s recommendation was obtained through a process that violated his constitutional rights.

Gatdula’s lawyer Abraham Espejo said the TRO was only part of Gatdula’s petition to restrain “a continuation of any proceeding of the fact-finding panel, and to have all evidence they obtain considered illegal and inadmissible in any proceeding.”