Garcia questions detention at NBP

MANILA, Philippines - Former military comptroller Carlos Garcia sought relief from the Supreme Court (SC) in questioning his detention at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) where he was to serve the two-year hard labor sentence by military court martial.

Garcia filed a 62-page habeas corpus petition before the high court on Sept. 30, claiming he was illegally confined.

“Petitioner submits that his arrest and detention at the National Penitentiary is a case of illegal confinement or detention by which he is deprived of liberty, or in the alternative, by which the rightful custody over his person is withheld from the military facility entitled hereto,” Garcia argued in his petition.

Named respondents in the petition is Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., the Office of the President, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr., and Bureau of Corrections Director Gaudencio Pangilinan.

The habeas corpus petition was directed to a custodian ordering him to present the detainee before the court at a designated time and place.

The court will then deliberate on whether the petitioner was lawfully detained.

Garcia asked the high court to nullify President Aquino’s approval of the court martial sentencing him to two years of hard labor.

“After due notice, comment and judicial determination, the petition... be given due course and thereafter an order be issued to annul and set aside the Sept. 9, 2011 Confirmation of Sentence for being patently illegal,” Garcia also said.

Garcia is also asking the SC to direct respondents to justify his imprisonment, which he said was illegal.

Garcia was brought to the NBP on Sept. 16 after he was arrested to serve the general court-martial sentence of two years in hard labor.

President Aquino approved the 2005 general court-martial decision that found Garcia guilty of violating Articles of War 96 and 97 or conduct unbecoming an officer and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.

The court-martial said Garcia possessed US permanent resident status while in active service, and did not state his real assets in 2002 and 2003. He was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor and discharged from the service. Garcia retired in 2004.

In his petition, Garcia said the repudiation by the Office of the President of his full service of sentence must be considered grave abuse of discretion.

He said his arrest and confinement following the confirmation of the sentence was patently illegal, thereby warranting the writ of habeas corpus.

Garcia said that the respondents acted beyond their jurisdiction and have committed grave abuse of discretion when President Aquino’s confirmation of his two-year sentence was carried out.

He also argued President Aquino’s approval of the sentence was without any legal basis.

Garcia argued it was illegal to detain him at the national penitentiary because he has already served the two-year sentence when he was preventively confined while the court martial heard his case.

“Even assuming for the sake of argument that the penalty of two years confinement may be imposed in addition to the penalties of dismissal and forfeiture, the sentence had been fully served in view of petitioner’s preventive confinement which exceeded the two-year sentence,” he said.

Garcia asked the SC to issue the writ of habeas corpus directing prison officials to show cause for his continued detention.

And if the SC finds his imprisonment lawful, Garcia said the high court should consider confining him to a military facility.