A lawyer of Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan and her husband said there was nothing illegal in the detention of Lopez, Quezon province Councilor Arkie Manuel Ortiz-Yulde last year.
Yulde, in his complaint filed before the Makati City prosecutor’s office, said the Tan couple and newspaper correspondent Jaime Aquino were liable for illegal detention because “through fraudulent and illegal means, they have skewed judicial processes.”
Named as respondents in the complaint were Tan, her husband Public Works Region 1 Director Engr. Ronnel Tan, and Aquino.
But in a radio interview, Merito Lovensky Fernandez, lawyer of the Tan couple, maintained the detention of Yulde in Pangasinan was legal because there was a pertinent case filed in court against him.
“If he has a lawsuit in court, it means he was issued a warrant of arrest, so he was imprisoned. So, his detention is not illegal. He was detained because of a case and a warrant of arrest that has been issued,” Fernandez said.
Yulde was jailed for five months on three charges of rape, serious illegal detention, and child abuse, but was freed last Feb. 9 as the cases were dismissed “not only for lack of legal basis but also on the ground of denial of the right to a speedy trial,” the councilor said in his complaint.
Fernandez said even the court and the police that arrested Yulde have no liabilities because the arrest was legitimate.
“The police and the court have no liability because there was a presumption of regularity. The police have just acted on the basis of the warrant of arrest. The judge will not issue a warrant if there’s no probable cause. Those are legal,” he said.
“The camp of Yulde is theorizing that since the case was dismissed, the documents are spurious. So, they countered and filed a serious illegal detention case. It will not prosper because regardless of the outcome of the case, whether it will be dismissed or not, it is wrong to file illegal detention against the complainant and those who built up the case,” the lawyer of Tan couple added.