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“RUNNING
priest” Robert Reyes on Thursday asked the Supreme Court
to issue a writ of amparo to prevent airport and
immigration authorities from further harassing him and
to enjoin them from implementing the hold-departure
order (HDO) issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on
December 1 against him and several others who took part
in the so-called Manila Peninsula standoff.
In a
12-page petition, Reyes, through his lawyer, former
Solicitor General Francisco Chavez, noted that the HDO
has not been withdrawn by the DOJ despite the dismissal
of the rebellion charges against the priest and 50
others by the Regional Trial Court of Makati City.
Due to
the failure of the Justice department to lift the HDO,
Reyes claimed he almost failed to fulfill his obligation
to teach in a university in Hong Kong when airport
authorities tried to block his departure on December 19,
2007.
Reyes
recounted that he checked in at the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport (Naia) for his flight to Hong Kong
but was held at the airport on the ground that his name
still appears in the hold-departure list despite the
dismissal of the rebellion charges.
He said
he needed to call his counsel to intervene, prompting
the authorities to allow him to leave. Still, they
advised him to have his name deleted from the HDO list.
Reyes
said flew back to the country from Hong Kong on December
26, 2007, but said he has to return to his ministry in
Hong Kong in the second week of January; hence, the
legal safeguards he was taking.
He noted
that the DOJ and the Bureau of Immigration have yet to
act on his December 18 request to exclude his name from
the HDO list.
“Hence,
every time petitioner would present himself at Naia for
his flights abroad, he is bound to encounter the same
problem as before of being held at the airport,” the
petition stated.
“Respondents’ inaction only evinces their calculated
move of harassing petitioner who had already been
cleared by the RTC-Makati of the crime of rebellion. No
doubt, petitioner’s track record of unflinching advocacy
against corruption in government has made him a
prominent target of such harassment tactics,” it added.
Reyes
said he sought the issuance of a writ of amparo since it
is a remedy available to any person whose right to life,
liberty and security is violated or threatened with
violation by unlawful act of a public official.
He said
right to liberty includes the right of a person to
travel as guaranteed under the Constitution.
“Part of
the right to liberty guaranteed by the Constitution is
the right of a person to travel. Verily, the arbitrary
personal restraint on petitioner to freely sojourn from
one place to another is a violation of Article III,
Section 6 of the Constitution,” the petitioner said.
Furthermore, the petitioner insisted that the HDO issued
by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is unconstitutional,
considering that there is no law giving the DOJ
secretary the power to issue an HDO.
“Moreover, even assuming, arguendo, that the DOJ
secretary can issue an HDO, there is no longer any legal
basis for the continued implementation of HDO No. 45…The
information for rebellion against petitioner was already
dismissed for lack of probable cause. Hence, petitioner
must no longer be restrained of his right to travel and
freedom of locomotion,”
Gonzalez, however, insisted that the DOJ has the power
to issue an HDO. |
