MY LETTER TO CHIEF JUSTICE SERENO

MY LETTER TO CHIEF JUSTICE SERENO

By BERTENI "TOTO" CATALUÑA CAUSING

I am sharing to the public my letter to Justice Sereno in my compelling passion for justice for two young men who have full of promise and have nothing of hope.

Please read below:

September 6, 2012

CHIEF JUSTICE MARIA LOURDES SERENO

Supreme Court

Manila

Dear Chief Justice Sereno,

            Full of hope, inspired by your JBC interview, I write for pro bono young clients to bring back hope to them: that Philippines is a good place to live and die for.

            Inspired by your idea of justice that proceedings must be quick to prevent the innocent from suffering long behind bars, I earnestly beg for two young men, hoping Thy Will Be Done Now on their petition.

A review on certiorari action was filed more than two months ago, on July 24, 2012, entitled “H. ALI M. AWAL for his son KAMARUDIN AGUIL AWAL and relative SALAHUDIN KANAKAN ESON detained at Camp Crame, Quezon City,” G.R. No. ________________.

            Kamarudin and Salahudin are both young men on whose faces are a portrait of hopelessness.

They have been there in jail for more than a year now.   That is despite the release order by the RTC of Midsayap, Branch 18, on the ground of lack of jurisdiction over their person.  They were mistaken for two suspects.

            The trial court’s order was defied.  The prosecutor filed a motion for reconsideration that when denied was still defied.  The two boys remained in the custody of the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.  The same prosecutor filed a second motion for reconsideration and it was denied, yet was still defied.

            Depressed by the defiance and clear contempt of the RTC of Midsayap, their former lawyer petitioned for habeas corpus before the RTC of Quezon City, which also ordered their release that the PNP refused.  Again, a motion for reconsideration was filed, it was denied, again it was defied. The PNP filed a second motion for reconsideration, it was denied, and again it was defied.

            The Office of the Solicitor General petitioned for a certiorari.  The father of Kamarudin came to the undersigned who urgently filed an action for Writs of Amparo and Habeas Corpus.  The Supreme Court acted upon right away. It directed the CA to hear, consolidate it with the certiorari, and decide in ten (10) days.

            I humbly believe I argued eloquently for freedom. 

These two young men had so much promise on their faces. But they had no hope.   The CA division that listened had no ear, no heart and a closed mind.  

The CA said the RTC of Midsayap acted improperly in denying the second motion for reconsideration on October 21, 2010. It reasoned out the Supreme Court issued the transfer-of-the-case-order Resolution on October 18, 2010.

The CA presumed that the resolution issued on October 18 must have been known by the trial court on October 18 or October 21.  Then it ruled the RTC should refrain from disposing the first motion for reconsideration.   There was no evidence to this effect so that presumption must apply.  I argued that only an actual notice to the judge can sustain such proposition of the OSG.  I wonder now:  Is it now the law of force and not the force of the law?

Normal course of the mails surely made it impossible for the October 18 resolution of the High Court to be known within three days or so by the RTC of Midsayap sitting a thousand miles away.  

The OSG did not offer proof to show the trial court knew of the resolution right on October 21 at the latest.  Yet the CA ruled it as a fact.

Thy Honor, Thy Will is their only hope now.

It is too revolting to conscience to see the PNP that is supposed to protect and to serve, the OSG that is supposed to be the counsel of the people, and the CA that is supposed to be a bastion of the oppressed would destroy the castle of law built on our forefathers’ blood.

The rule of law demands compliance with a court order, wrong it may be.

The rule of law demands obedience to the Rules of Court that prohibits all but the Supreme Court from entertaining a second motion for reconsideration.

I dug up a motive compelling enough for the PNP to commit crimes of “arbitrary detention” or “delay in the release of prisoners.” 

Its top officers insist my clients are close to the wanted bombers, relentlessly telling the young men to help them in this bounty hunting to get freedom at the flick of the fingers.

But in the PNP’s official stand, the clients are being held for joining the rampage done by a group of Commander Ameril Umbra Kato that went ablaze over the Supreme Court’s issuance of the temporary restraining order (TRO) against the scheduled signing of the Memorandum of Agreement Ancestral Domain-Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (MOA-AD BJE).

            I note the two young men were arrested on August 1, 2009 at Sunshine Mall at FTI in Bicutan, Taguig while plying their trade.   

I take judicial notice of the habit of life of the rebels that they do not go to Manila because allowing it will surely weaken the number strength of the rebels. 

Being in Taguig living a normal life when they were arrested, the presumption definitely favored the clients, not the PNP investigation cops who, like thieves in the night, snatched them with nothing to substantiate their claims.

            I don’t ask: FREE ‘EM.

I only ask: HEAR ‘EM.

I meditated upon, to write this or not. 

My belief in God told me: “Go ahead.”

My Lord told me: “Let Thy Justice be Done.”

I am aware, though.  There is only one common thing that ties the rebels together.

INJUSTICE.

Respectfully yours,

BERTENI “TOTO” CATALUÑA CAUSING

Counsel for H. Ali M. Awal, his son Kamarudin Aguil Awal and relative Salahudin Kanakan Eson

HEAR THE JBC INTERVIEW OF CHIEF JUSTICE SERENO