Slay Of 2 Army Soldiers: Lanao del Sur mayor faces arrest

The Makati City regional trial court (RTC) has ordered the arrest of the mayor of Kapai, Lanao del Sur for the killing of a young military officer and his aide more than two years ago.

Judge Maryanne Corpus-Manalac of RTC Branch 141 issued the warrant of arrest against Mayor Aminola Manga-run and one Linding Ampal for the killing of Army Capt. Sadat Tamano and Sgt. Nabral Bara in 2005.

The court, in a Jan. 4 order, said Mangarun is being denied of his right to post bail because he is charged with a heinous crime.

Copies of the arrest warrant were sent to the police chief of Kapai, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at Camp Crame.

The double murder case was raffled off to Corpus-Manalac’s sala last month after Makati City RTC Executive Judge Winlove Dumayas junked Mangarun’s motion to defer the case pending the resolution of an appeal he had filed with the Supreme Court (SC).

Mangarun’s argument that he was still questioning the SC decision transferring the trial from Cagayan de Oro City to Makati was deemed insufficient to postpone the legal proceedings.

Dumayas also denied the mayor’s motion amid his pending appeal before the Office of the President seeking to reverse a Department of Justice resolution recommending the filing of double murder charges against him and Ampal.

Dumayas said the court is duty-bound to follow the SC’s Aug. 22 order to transfer the trial because the tribunal exercises supervisory power over lower courts, aside from the fact that he finds no valid and compelling reason not to do so.

As to Mangarun’s petition for review filed with the Office of the President on the DOJ resolution, the court is “also not compelled to wait for its resolution before acting on this case,” Dumayas said.

“It is elementary in criminal procedure that once the information is filed by the prosecution, the court already acquires jurisdiction over the case,” he said.

“Since the information in this case was already filed by the prosecution with the RTC of Cagayan de Oro City, the outcome of their petition for review with the Office of  the President finds little relevance in the case at bar since it is now in the hands of the court for its disposition,” he said.

Tamano and Bara were killed after the Kapai mayor allegedly learned that the former was having an affair with his wife, an allegation which the relatives of the Army captain vehemently denied.

In October 2007, the DOJ rejected Mangarun’s appeal to reverse its recommendation for the filing of murder charges against him.

The DOJ ruled that Mangarun failed to discredit eyewitnesses and testimonies that implicated him in the crime despite his claim that those linking him had questionable motives.  – With Rhodina Villanueva