Writ of Amparo vs. brgy captain, tanods rejected

Regional Trial Court judge Silvestre Maamo Jr. has rejected the petition for a Writ of Amparo filed by a public school teacher against Tabunan barangay captain Bernabe Arcayan and his tanods.

Soledad Pador, a teacher of the Tabunan Elementary School, and her husband Nerio, went to court claiming Arcayan raided her ampalaya farm last March 17 after they accused her of planting marijuana.

Maamo, however, ruled that the Pador couple failed to show proof that their constitutional rights had been violated by the respondents, thus a Writ of Amparo could not be issued by the court against Arcayan and the tanods.

“It can be readily seen that the sole basis of the petitioners’ suspicion that they have been suspected of being marijuana planters is admittedly rumors.  As such, it is hearsay and therefore has no probative value,” the court ruled.

During the trial of the case Arcayan and his tanods even denied receiving reports that the Pador couple is planting marijuana.  He also said that the ampalaya farm of Pador was not the subject of their raid, but the farm of a certain David Quintana.

The couple’s counsel, Rameses Villagonzalo Jr., however said that he will raise the case to the Supreme Court and petition for a review and certiorari of the RTC decision and hope that it will reverse Maamo’s decision.

The Pador couple denied they planted marijuana, the reason why Arcayan and his tanods failed to find any illegal plant when they raided the couple’s farm.

The couple had asked the court to order and to refrain Arcayan and his tanods from conducting raids, searches and other similar activities on their farm by pretending that they are looking for marijuana plants.

Villagonzalo said it will not be impossible that marijuana seeds will be thrown at their farmlands in order for them to be held criminally liable.

“Amparo,” in a non-legal context, simply means protection or shelter.  It will protect the citizen and his basic guarantees, and they also protect the constitution itself by ensuring that its principles are not violated by statutes or actions of the state that undermine the basic rights enshrined therein.

The Writ of Amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security has been violated or is threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity.  — Rene U. Borromeo/RAE