Gatdula goes to court

MANILA, Philippines - Former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Magtanggol Gatdula yesterday filed a petition with the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) to stop Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, NBI officer-in-charge (OIC) Nonnatus Rojas and Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda from further threatening his and his family’s “life, liberty and security.”        

His wife Aurora and lawyer Abraham Espejo accompanied Gatdula when he filed a 14-page petition for a writ of amparo against De Lima, Rojas and Esmeralda.

“This is also to restrain respondents from framing up petitioner for the fake ambush incident by filing bogus charges of frustrated murder against him,” Gatdula’s petition stated.

The case was raffled to Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of Manila RTC Branch 26.                      

Gatdula stated in his petition that he had been receiving information that he will be made the mastermind of the alleged “ambush me” incident.          

 ”Because of respondent’s prejudgment, a danger that petitioner will be framed up for the ambush and subsequently be the subject of an extralegal killing, which will be committed in the guise of effecting a lawful arrest, now exists,” said Gatdula in his petition.

“This is an inevitable conclusion because respondents De Lima and Esmeralda have access to men and means to carry out an extralegal killing while petitioner stands alone with no one to help except this court,” the petition added.

Two unidentified men riding on a motorcycle ambushed Esmeralda and his brother last Feb. 21. Esmeralda suffered minor scratches and shrapnel wounds in the head. His brother was hit in the right shoulder.

Espejo said the statements of Esmeralda and De Lima “implicitly pointed to Gatdula as the person responsible.”       

De Lima and Esmeralda had stated that the ambush is connected with the alleged kidnapping by NBI agents of Noriyo Ohara, an undocumented Japanese woman, which resulted in the dismissal of Gatdula.

Gatdula earlier denied involvement in the ambush, adding that the respondents wanted to pin him down.

“I was shocked to learn that they were linking my name to the ambush incident,” he said.