After journalist's arrest, lawyers ask whether PNP still 'used' by Duterte family

MANILA, Philippines — Missteps by the police who carried out the arrest of veteran journalist Philip Lustre Jr. over the weekend contributed to the denial of his due process, his lawyers said.

Besides the alleged procedural lapses by the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office — whose chief prosecutor faces conflict-of-interest questions over his ties with the Duterte family — Lustre’s lawyers also scored the cops for how they served the warrant to the 72-year-old journalist.

Cops from the Quezon City Police District arrested Lustre on Saturday, October 24, at the end of the weekly Saturday News Forum. De Leon was there as a guest speaker and stepped in as Lustre's counsel on the spot.

The warrant, issued October 2 by Judge Retrina Fuentes of the Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 10, charges Lustre with online libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Dino De Leon and other lawyers of the DARGON law firm said at a briefing Wednesday, October 28, that while they recognize the duty of police to serve court-issued warrants, Lustre’s was carried out in a manner that prevented him from being aware of the charges in the first place. 

Because the Davao court was closed on Saturday, De Leon recalled his team's struggle to obtain the certified copies of the charge sheet and the prosecutor’s resolution needed for bail. Four lawyers worked on it at the same time to secure Lustre’s release, he said.

“A person’s access to bail should not depend on whether his lawyers can overcome a weekend obstacle course,” De Leon said.

De Leon also questioned why the 72-year-old had to be handcuffed. A request to loosen Lustre’s handcuffs while he was at the hospital was turned down, he added.

“Did he attempt to escape? Did he threaten anyone?” he said, adding that police should identify the specific circumstances that justified the restraint. 

The arresting officers also could not inform Lustre who had filed the complaint or what it alleged, according to his legal team. The lawyers learned those details two days later, after they flew to Davao to obtain the documents.

“What’s more difficult and painful than seeing a 72-year-old journalist in handcuffs is seeing a 72-year-old journalist in handcuffs who does not even know the allegations against him,” lawyer Mark David Dacula said.

The complaint, filed by Manases Carpio, the husband of Vice President Sara Duterte, stems from a March 6 Facebook post by Lustre, according to the charge sheet.

This Facebook post had supposedly linked Carpio to an alleged P300-million payment to the 18 self-claimed former bagmen. Lustre’s lawyers, however, said the post merely asked a question.

The lawyers raised the possibility of a double standard in Lustre’s arrest, especially when contrasted with the handling of the vice president’s own case more than a month ago.

A Quezon City court had ordered Duterte’s arrest on September 4 on three counts of grave threats against the president and his family. She appeared in court the next day and posted bail without being handcuffed.

The lawyers also cited Sen. Bato dela Rosa, who remains at large despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant made public in May, and businessman Atong Ang, also a fugitive. 

The government last week offered a P50-million bounty for Dela Rosa’s capture.

"Those are the questions we have for Philippine National Police... They should not be instruments of any powerful individual, especially in the administration of justice," Dacula said.

Pointing out that the ICC itself has flagged the "weaponization" of the police under Duterte, De Leon asked the PNP as an institution to consider how far it would "allow itself to be used" against the public.

“I hope and I pray that the institution of the Philippine National Police will reflect until what extent they will be perceived, or actually be used by the Duterte family," he said. "It’s a painful question, but I think it has to be asked."

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