A COUPLE from Talisay City went to the Court of Appeals (CA) in a bid to prevent local policemen from committing “unlawful acts” against their life, liberty and security.
Adhmann Canangca-an and his wife Priscilla filed yesterday morning a petition for a Writ of Amparo against Supt. Aileen Recla, acting chief of the Talisay City Police Office, PO1 Samuel Alvarez and 15 other policemen.
“Petitioners and their family feel that their lives are in danger now. There is no guarantee and assurance that respondents and law enforcement unit will not repeat the illegal acts,” read the couple’s petition prepared by their lawyer, Rameses Villagonzalo.
The spouses are still in hiding, the lawyer said.
Canangca-an stepped out of a detention cell last Monday morning after posting P120,000 as bail in his direct assault and attempted murder cases.
Canangca-an had surrendered to the Talisay City police because he wanted to clear his name. His cousin, Maghaway Councilman Felix Abacajan Jr., escaped from the police after an alleged shootout last week.
Canangca-an said he had no part in that shootout, which killed the councilman’s brother Joeser Abacajan and Julian Bonghanoy Jr.
The councilor reportedly suffered a gunshot wound in the left shoulder.
A police team from the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) were hunting them because they allegedly kept unlicensed firearms. The law enforcers had a search warrant from Regional Trial Court Branch 18 Judge Gilbert Moises.
When they raided the councilman’s house, they found guns. Seized from Felix’s residence were a KG9 machine pistol, three .45 pistols, two shotguns, an M16A1 rifle, two Magnum rifles, two rifle grenades, a 40mm grenade launcher canister and several bullets.
Police also recovered a bullet-proof vest, a gun box, and two cotton swabs inside the Nissan Navara that Canangca-an had driven.
In the petition, Villagonzalo said that Adhmann was interrogated by policemen in Talisay City without any legal counsel who could have assisted him.
Several unidentified policemen allegedly twisted his arms when they asked him where his cousin, Councilor Abacajan, was.
Atty. Villagonzalo said that some of policemen threatened to salvage Canangca-an “anytime.”
When the police could not get any information from him, PO1 Alvarez pulled Canangca-an inside his office and punched him in his chest, the petition claimed.
Last Oct. 8, Canangca-an said, his son texted him that 12 to 15 heavily armed policemen had barged into their home without any search warrant.
The couple asked the appeals court to grant them a temporary protection order under the National Bureau of Investigation 7.
They also asked the appeals court to order the respondents to issue a “categorical apology” for their allegedly illegal acts against them.
They also want the court to direct the policemen to return the hard disk of the closed-circuit television camera that the police had seized from the couple’s house.
The writ of amparo has existed as a legal remedy since 2007 and was intended as a response to a wave of killings and disappearances.
If the court finds basis in a writ of amparo case, it can issue a temporary protection order, inspection order or witness protection order. It may also compel the government to produce the person, such as a detainee, on whose behalf the case was filed.
