Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 19) — Former lawmaker Satur Ocampo could stay free while he continues to face the charges against him.
The Regional Trial Court of Manila Branch 32 denied the petition of the prosecution to cancel the bail Ocampo posted for his murder case. If the petition was granted, Ocampo could have been recommitted to jail.
Ocampo has posted bail to two different, on-going cases: P100,000 for his alleged involvement in a mass murder committed by alleged communist rebels in Leyte in August 2006, and P80,000 for alleged kidnapping 14 Lumad students in Davao del Norte in December.
READ: Former solon Satur Ocampo, 17 others post bail
The government sought to cancel Ocampo’s first bail based on his kindapping case, and claimed that Ocampo had a “proclivity to abuse the provisional liberty that was granted to him.”
The Manila RTC however, said that it could not cancel the bails, since the first one was granted by the Supreme Court and the second by a Davao del Norte Regional Trial Court.
“Any issuance of an order or a warrant of arrest by said court, if any, is outside this court’s ambit amd jurisdiction under the doctrine of judicial stability or non-interference in the regular orders or judgments of a co-equal court,” the Manila RTC decision read.
The Manila RTC added that there were no conditions to the bail granted to Ocampo’s bail except that it would end once a decision has been made on his cases.
