OSG asks SC to order rearrest of ex-Palawan governor Joel Reyes

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Solicitor General urged the Supreme Court to order the rearrest of former and dismiss the petition for review by Palawan governor Joel Reyes, who allegedly plotted the murder of journalist Gerry Ortega in 2011.

To recall, the Supreme Court in early April issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Puerto Princesa Regional Trial Court Branch 52 from implementing the warrant against Reyes.

But government lawyers later April in a 62-page comment urged the high court to lift the TRO and dismiss the petition for review on certiorari that Reyes filed. The petition has yet to be resolved to date. 

The OSG also argued in its comment that "there is clear basis for the RTC's issuance of a warrant of arrest against [Reyes]," as the issuance of a warrant of arrest was "supported by legal and jurisprudential basis rather than arbitrary and unfounded conclusions."

“The RTC’s finding of strong evidence of petitioner’s guilt has, in turn, been affirmed by the Court of Appeals in its decision dated July 9, 2021. With due respect to this Honorable Court, these consistent findings by the RTC and the Court of Appeals superseded and mooted the issue of probable cause,” the OSG told the high court. 

The OSG pointed out that a temporary restraining order is issued in the presence of a number of "essential requisites," including the invasion of the petitioner's right, a "clear and unmistakable" right of the complainant, and an "urgent and paramount necessity for the writ to prevent serious damage."

"There is now a finding of strong evidence of petitioner's guilt, there is no invasion, much less a material and substantial invasion of [his] right should he be ordered re-arrested," the OSG said.

Reyes and his brother, Coron Mayor Mario Reyes, have been accused of masterminding the murder of Ortega, a staunch critic of the Reyes family. The two are running for governor and mayor, respectively, in the May 9 elections. 

Rodolfo Edrad, a former bodyguard of former Marinduque governor Jose Antonio Carreon, had confessed to putting together the hit team to kill Ortega, allegedly on orders of Reyes.

In ordering Reyes' release from detention, the Court of Appeals said it found that RTC Branch 52 “committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to excess of jurisdiction” when it ruled that there was a probable cause to detain Reyes. It added that Edrad was “not a credible and trustworthy witness.”

Ortega, a veterinarian, was shot dead near his clinic in Puerto Princesa on January 24, 2011.

– with reports from Kristine Joy Patag and The STAR

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