Claudine Baretto and Raymart Santiago to bring case to Supreme Court

PHILSTAR: By Reinir Padua

Vowing to insist their case even all the way up to the Supreme Court, celebrity couple Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto will appeal a court order that junked their plea for a Writ of Amparo against the Tulfo brothers, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Lawyer Alex Avisado said the temporary protection order that has been issued by the former judge in favor of the couple "stays...until our motion for reconsideration shall have been resolved."

He said he would file a motion for reconsideration, insisting that the motion to dismiss filed by Erwin Tulfo's lawyer, Nelson Borja, was a "prohibited pleading" under the rules on the Writ of Amparo.

Borja had earlier filed a “manifestation and motion to deny (the) issuance of protection order and/or dismissal of the petition motu prorpio.” He asked the court to “take a second look” at the petition.

"We will question the court's ruling that a Writ of Amparo can only be availed of by victims of human rights abuses and forced disappearances,"

Avisado said, referring to the ruling made by Acting Presiding Judge Maria Filomena Singh of the Regional Trial Court Branch 219.

"Simply stated, the court said that since Raymart and Claudine are not victims of human rights then the Writ of Amparo cannot be issued. We disagree. The writ of amparo is a legal remedy available to those who seek freedom from fear that's why there is a need to make the temporary protection order permanent," Avisado said.

Singh had cited the rules on the said writ that stated “only extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances are proper subjects of a petition.”

Singh dismissed the petition and dissolved the temporary protective order issued by the former judge dated May 24.

The court ruling upheld a point earlier raised by Borja, who argued that the Writ of Amparo covered only cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The couple (Rozelle Raymond Martin Santiago and Claudine Margaret Barretto Santiago) filed the petition after brothers Raffy, Ben and Erwin Tulfo allegedly threatened them on their television program “T3” on TV5.

This was following the airport brawl that involved the couple and the respondents’ elder brother, columnist Mon Tulfo.

In their petition, the couple asked to be assigned with police escorts.

The couple also asked for an order for the Tulfos to "cease and desist from further threatening the life, liberty and security of the petitioners and their family."

Yesterday, Avisado said the temporary protection order issued by the former judge of the court who had retired, saying the relief "helped our clients move on with their normal lives."

"Considering that there is not much prevailing jurisprudence on this matter, we expect this case to reach the Supreme Court for enrichment of jurisprudence and education of our people on the intricacies of the Writ of Amparo," Avisado said.

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Copyright and Content Courtesy of Phil Star

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