A SUPPORT group of families and friends of political prisoners yesterday urged the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to reject the bid for a seat in either the Court of Appeals or the Sandiganbayan of a Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge whom they alleged is a “warrant factory judge.”
Kapatid said the JBC should scrutinize the judicial record of Quezon City RTC Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert whom they said has a track record of issuing search warrants against activists that were later voided by other courts due to significant flaws.
The group said Villavert’s appointments to the CA or the anti-graft court could exacerbate the fragility of the country’s justice system.
Kapatid and other human rights groups earlier called the attention of the Supreme Court to Villavert’s issuance of search warrants that led to the arrests of many of their members.
They cited the 2021 decision of the Mandaluyong court clearing activists Lady Ann Salem and Rodrigo Esparago of charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, ruling that the search warrant issued by Villavert and used by the police was void.
They also said that she supposedly issued search warrants in 2019 that were used by the police to arrest activists in Bacolod City.
In March 2022, the Quezon City Branch 220 granted the plea of trade union organizer Dennise Velasco to quash due to irregularities and lack of evidence the search warrant issued by Villavert and used by the police to arrest him and six other activists .
In September 2022, the CA likewise voided search warrants issued by Villavert that were used by the police to arrest human rights activist Reina Mae Nasino and her fellow activists.
The SC in April this year upheld the voiding of the search warrant in the Nasino case.
“Clearly, Judge Villavert’s tenure on the bench, particularly her issuance of search warrants that are being overturned for grave violations of constitutional rights, raises serious questions about her suitability for a higher role in the judiciary,” Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim said in a statement.
“The impact of Judge Villavert’s actions extends far beyond the courtroom, with families torn apart and lives irreparably damaged. Reina Mae Nasino, along with her infant daughter Baby River, is a poignant symbol of the injustices stemming from those poisonous warrants,” Lim added.
Lim said others like her husband, Vic Ladlad, Alberto and Virginia Villamor, and Renante Gamara continue to suffer in jail due to the “spurious warrants” that she said “one judge described as the ‘fruits of a poisoned tree.”
“The appointment of judges to high-ranking positions must be guided by a commitment to safeguarding the integrity and independence of the judicial system and protecting the rights of all individuals, regardless of their political beliefs or affiliations. We call on the Judicial and Bar Council to ensure that only the most qualified and ethically sound candidates are appointed to positions of judicial authority,” Lim said.
Velasco also wrote the JBC, saying she cannot stay silent on the issue.
“As a former political prisoner who fell victim to the issuance of questionable search warrants by Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert, I cannot stay silent. Between 2018 and 2020, this judge issued numerous questionable search warrants that led to the arrest and filing of trumped-up charges against 76 activists,” Velasco said.
“I am appealing for the immediate disqualification of Judge Villavert from being considered for a higher position in the Court of Appeals or Sandiganbayan. We fear she could cause further damage to the justice system and society as a whole. There is clear evidence that Judge Villavert abused her position to violate the rights of those activists she targeted. The majority of cases based on her issued search warrants were eventually dismissed by regional trial courts and the Court of Appeals,” Velasco added.
Villavert is set to face the JBC on June 5.
The QC judge is among those vying for the CA positions left vacant by the appointment of Associate Justice Mariflor Castillo as the presiding justice on November 2023, and the compulsory retirements of Associate Justices Oscar Badelles who left the judiciary last month, and Ramon Garcia who retired last May 10.
Villavert is also eyeing the CA post to be left vacant by the retirement next month of Associate Justice Alfredo Ampuan, as well as two impending vacancies in the Sandiganbayan with the retirements on May 23 and June 18 of Associate Justices Oscar Herrera Jr. and Efren De La Cruz.
