WHY did Regional Trial Court Judge Marivic Trabayo-Daray order the release of Bohol Provincial Board (PB) Member Niño Rey Boniel and his driver Rendel Lupas?
Apart from the “baseless and unfounded” charges against the respondents, or at least during their arrest on June 7, Daray pointed out that she is “constrained to tilt the scales of justice.”
“The delivery to the judicial authority of a person arrested without a warrant by a peace officer does not consist in physical delivery, but in making an accusation or charge or filing of an information against the person arrested,” read Daray’s seven-page order dated June 9.
The judge had ordered Bohol Provincial Police Office Director Felipe Natividad to release Boniel and Lupas from Camp Francisco Dagohoy in Tagbilaran City.
Boniel, the former mayor of Bien Unido, Bohol, is accused of shooting to death his wife Gisela last June 7.
Boniel is facing charges for two counts of kidnapping and serious physical injuries filed by the main complainant, Angela Leyson, Gisela’s best friend, and Leyson’s 17-year-old son, in Bohol.
Police are set to file today the parricide complaint against Boniel before the City Prosecutor’s Office in Lapu-Lapu City, where he reportedly shot Gisela and dumped her body between the islands of Olango and Caubian.
Boniel and Lupas filed the petition against Natividad after they were placed under custody on the pretext that they were under investigation.
However, the respondents argued that they were illegally detained on June 7 in the police camp since their arrest was without a warrant and there was no search warrant.
Police, however, insisted the suspects were placed under custody on June 7, and that they intended to file a case for inquest proceedings at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
In the order, Daray said kidnapping and serious illegal detention carry the penalties of reclusion perpetua to death, under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code.
Police have at least 36 hours to file complaints against a detainee.
The detainee should be informed why he is detained and should be allowed to hire a counsel of his choice.
In the order, the judge said the police failed to show “justifiable and legal ground” that would warrant the legality of the suspect’s detention.
Citing a Supreme Court jurisprudence, the judge explained that a habeas corpus petition is designed to facilitate the enforcement of a person’s right and liberty.
“In this case, the petitioners have sufficiently proved that they were deprived of their liberty as they were confined or detained by the respondent,” the order read.
The judge also ruled that the respondents’ detention in the police camp was illegal when police failed to produce the body of the petitioners during the hearing of the habeas corpus petition in Bohol.
After he was ordered released from the police camp in Bohol, Boniel was transported back to the Police Regional Office 7 headquarters in Cebu on June 9.
Boniel is currently detained at Police Station 2 in Cebu City after he signed a waiver for his 10-day detention, while they prepare to file his counter-affidavit to the two counts of kidnapping and serious physical injuries.