OSG to submit habeas reply on March 1

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Solicitor General will submit to the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday its reply to the consolidated petition for habeas corpus that will be used as basis in determining if the government should be ordered to present former president Rodrigo Duterte before the Court.

The OSG said it received only late yesterday afternoon a copy of the SC resolution that required the government to reply to the petition.

At past 6 p.m. on Thursday, the SC issued a statement saying that the justices gave the 11 respondents, all from the government, a non-extendible period of 24 hours from receipt of notice to state why the peremptory writ of habeas corpus should not be issued.

Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra explained that “under the Rules of Court, if a pleading/motion falls due on a weekend or a non-working day, the same may be filed on the next working day.”

The OSG would serve as counsel of the respondents in the three petitions for habeas corpus that were filed by three of Duterte’s children – Davao City Mayor Sebastian, Davao City First District Rep. Paolo and Veronica.

Named respondents in the consolidated petition were Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Marbil, PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Major Gen. Nicolas Torre III, Solicitor General Guevarra, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner, former Bureau of Immigration commissioner Norman Tansingco, Philippine Center for Transnational Crime executive director Antonio Alcantara and Captain Johnny Gulla.

The petition reportedly challenges the actions of Bersamin, DILG’s Remulla and Marbil in enforcing the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against former president Duterte.

It also sought the nullification of these actions and to prohibit further cooperation with the ICC. They also prayed for a writ of habeas corpus to secure the release of the former president from his confinement and detention.

The petitioners believe that Duterte was denied his constitutional rights when he was illegally detained and arrested by the Philippine government last March 11, in coordination with the International Criminal Police Organization that served the warrant of arrest issued by the ICC.

They argued that a warrant of arrest was issued by an entity that has no jurisdiction within the Philippines since the country had already withdrawn from the Rome Statute, effective March 17, 2019. The ICC was established by the Rome Statute.

Reverse ruling

The Duterte camp asked the SC to reverse its earlier ruling denying the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and to order the government to work for the return of the former president to the Philippines.

Israelito Torreon, on behalf of his clients former president Duterte and Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, electronically filed yesterday afternoon a Supplement to the Petition with Motion for Reconsideration.

Torreon asked the high court to reverse and set aside its March 12 resolution that denied the issuance of a TRO and instead issue an order granting the TRO and/or of preliminary prohibitory and mandatory injunction, declaring the arrest, detention and forcible transfer of Duterte unlawful, arbitrary and unconstitutional.

It also reportedly violated his fundamental rights under the Philippine law and international due process standards.