A trade union organizer, who was arrested last year and charged initially with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and later with a non-bailable offense of illegal possession of explosives, has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse a trial court order that dismissed his petition for release on the ground of mootness.
Dennise Velasco also asked the SC to order the Quezon City regional trial court (RTC) to resolve the merits of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
A writ of habeas corpus is a legal remedy availed of in cases of illegal or arbitrary detention.In his petition filed last Friday, Feb. 26, through his wife Diane Zapata, Velasco told the SC that “the purpose of the writ of habeas corpus is to look into the validity of the detention of the person whose liberty is alleged to be restrained."
Thus, he pointed out that “the inquiry should not be limited to the determination of whether or not the detention of a person is the result of a valid legal process.”
And the court’s jurisdiction, he added, “covers as well the adjudication of questions pertaining to the circumstances of the arrest of the cause of action."
Velasco was among the seven individuals arrested on Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, 2020.
Aside from Velasco, five other union organizers were arrested as well as journalist Lady Ann Salem. The case against Salem and unionist Rodrigo Esparado has been dismissed by the trial court but they remained in detention. Prosecutors have filed a pleading to reconsider the court’s order.
On Dec. 23, 2020, Velasco was criminally charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. He posted bail but the police refused to release him on the ground that the prosecution amended the charge to illegal possession of explosives.
Before the filing of a criminal case against Velasco, on Dec. 18, 2020 Zapata filed with the SC a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
On Jan. 7, 2021, the SC ordered the Quezon City RTC to hear Velasco’s habeas corpus petition.
But on Feb. 16, 2021, after hearing, the trial court denied Velasco’s petition with a ruling that since he “is now subject to lawful process with the filing of criminal charges against him,” the remedies available to him “no longer include the instant special proceedings,” the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Velasco told the SC that his right was violated when he was arrested without a warrant.
"An information (charge sheet) is not a warrant of arrest or a commitment order. Without making an inquiry into the facts that led to and are intrinsic to such information, i.e. the circumstances of the warrant of arrest, there is no way for the habeas corpus court to know whether it is proper and lawful to order the continuing detention of the person deprived of liberty," he stressed.