Negros Occidental journo files criminal, administrative complaints vs judges, prosecutors

CEBU, Philippines – Negros Occidental-based journalist Erwin “Ambo” Delilan on Friday, February 20, filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against prosecutors and judges for depriving him of his rights after two recent arrests.

Delilan, in copies of the complaint sent to Rappler on Friday, accused the following of gross abuse of authority or oppression, ignorance of the law, and neglect of duty:

• Bacolod City Regional Trial Court Branch 45 Presiding Judge Phoebe Gargantiel-Balbin
• Talisay City Prosecutor Manelee Mijares-Manahan
• Bago City Regional Trial Court Branch 62 Presiding Judge Irene Teves-Villaser


• Bago City Prosecutor’s Office officer-in-charge Ma. Christy Uriarte

The journalist was first arrested on January 19 in relation to charges of unjust vexation. Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 45 issued the arrest warrant issue on January 12. The warrant did not provide details about the case, except that Delilan was accused of unjust vexation committed through information and communication technology.

The journalist was arrested a second time on the same charges on February 16, by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Bago City Regional Trial Court Branch 62 Judge Irene Teves-Villaser.

Delilan was accused of unjust vexation on both occasions over his Hiligaynon poems on his social media page which criticized Negros Occidental officials.

According to the journalist, he was deprived of his basic constitutional right to be informed of the complaints filed against him prior to the arrest.

“It was only after I posted bail when I knew the respective complainants and cases they filed against me,” Delilan wrote in the complaint.

Citing Rule 112 of the Rules of Court on Criminal Procedure, Delilan said that he should have been sent a subpoena and allowed to file a counter affidavit or respond to the accusations against him.

Section 3 of Rule 112 of the Rules of Court states that the respondent shall have the right to examine the evidence submitted by the complainant which he may not have been furnished and to copy them at his expense.

“But in my cases in Bacolod and Bago, it cannot be understood — [if] either regular or summary proceedings was really applied — but the fact remains, I was not subpoenaed, or informed of the complaints in both cases. I was just arrested sans knowledge of everything,” Delilan said.

Delilan stressed that in the prosecutors and judges’ act of making “shortcuts” on legal procedures, he ended up as a victim of blatant harassment two times. – Rappler.com