THE Court of Appeals has dismissed the petition of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) seeking the reversal of its January 27, 2023 ruling affirming the decision of the Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court to quash the search warrant issued by Quezon City Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert against red-tagged journalist Lady Ann Salem and union organizer Rodrigo Esparago.
In a three-page resolution promulgated last August 29, the appellate court’s 12th Division said the OSG failed to raise new arguments that would warrant the reconsideration of the assailed ruling that led to the release of Salem and Esparago.
“Acting on petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration dated 28 February 2023, through the Office of the Solicitor General, vis-í -vis, the private respondent Lady Ann Salem’s Comment dated 29 March 2023, this Court finds no compelling reason to alter or reverse our Decision promulgated on 27 January 2023,” said the decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Lorenzo dela Rosa.
Concurring with the decision were Associate Justices Emily Alino-Geluz and Nina Antonia-Valenzuelsa.
Salem, editor of Manila Today, and Esparago were arrested on December 10, 2020, with the police claiming they found unlicensed firearms, grenades and ammunition during a raid at a residence in Mandaluyong City.
In February 2021, the Mandaluyong RTC voided the search and said the illegally seized firearms were inadmissible, leading to the dismissal of the charges against them and their release from detention.
Burgos-Villavert also issued the search warrant that led to the arrest of human rights activist Reina Mae Nasino, the mother who lost her three-month-old daughter while in detention, and two of her companions.
They were also charged by the police with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Last July, Manila RTC Branch 47 Presiding Judge John Benedict Medina junked the cases against Nasino and her co-accused, Ram Carlo Bautista and Alma Moran, saying the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Progressive and human rights groups earlier called the attention of the Supreme Court to Burgos-Villavert’s issuance of search warrants that led to the arrests of many of their members.
She also issued the search warrants in 2019 used by the police to arrest activists in Bacolod City.
SC rules allow the executive judges of Manila and Quezon City to issue search warrants outside of their jurisdictions.
