THE government has opposed a motion filed by former Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo seeking the reduction of the P40,000 bail set by the Second Division of the Sandiganbayan in an arbitrary, detention case filed against her by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Prosecutors Rodrigo Coquia and Annielyn Medes Cabelis asked the antigraft court to deny Domingo’s motion for lack of basis.

“Aside from being the former commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation, and former congresswoman of Pampanga, accused is currently the general manager and chief executive officer of the Public Reclamation Authority [formerly Public Estates Authority]. Considering the government positions held
and currently occupied by the accused, she is financially capable to pay the P40,000 bail previously fixed by the Honorable Court,” they said.

In addition, Coquia and Cabelis said the amount of bail is recommended by law under Article 124 of the Revised Penal Code because the offense is punishable by reclusion temporal equivalent to a jail term of 12 to 20 years.

Domingo was accused, along with Immigration intelligence officers II Maynard Marinas and Arthur Solito III, and Mandaue City prison warden Elmer Napilot, of causing the illegal detention of Alfred Lehnert Jr., a German national residing in the Philippines for a period of one year and six months.

Prosecutors held that Lehnert was unlawfully arrested on September 27, 2002, in  Mandaue City, Cebu while he was following up his papers at the local BID office.

The arrest was reportedly made based on a mission order signed by Domingo, but charges accusing Lehnert of being an “undesirable alien” were filed only three days after his lawyer filed a petition for habeas corpus.

The Cebu regional trial court granted Lehnert’s petition but the BID officers went up to the Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s ruling.

Owing to the legal challenges, Lehnert’s detention stretched on for 18 months until his release on March 25, 2004.

“The amount of bail fixed by the Honorable Court is reasonable and proper, considering the length of the period of illegal detention the private complainant suffered on the basis of the Mission Order issued by the accused and the gravity of the penalty that may be imposed on them,” the prosecution said.

The illegal detention case against Domingo and two of her former men was filed by the Ombudsman with the Sandiganbayan last February 26.

Provincial bus operators to join strike; government fielding free transport

MALACAÑANG assured the public on Sunday that the government is preparing measures to ease the impact of Tuesday’s planned transport strike even as provincial bus operators declared they will also join the metrowide action planned by the United Transport Koalisyon (1-Utak).

MEMBERS of the Senate foreign relations committee will be asked to concur in or reject a full committee report recommending conditional concurrence with the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).

THE House leadership has endorsed the proposed P3-billion special fund to relocate 126,230 families living in almost subhuman conditions along esteros, dump sites and other danger zones in Metro Manila.

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Dubbed the “Strawberry Capital,” this premier producer of strawberries is the best place to hold a festival that brings together thousands of visitors and residents to enjoy activities and entertainment,

CEBU’S suspected extensive and syndicated “escort services”—getting people, mostly workers, to get through airport processing easily—may be in for another drubbing from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) because Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan has sent a team to look into the situation at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

THE government has opposed a motion filed by former Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo seeking the reduction of the P40,000 bail set by the Second Division of the Sandiganbayan in an arbitrary, detention case filed against her by the Office of the Ombudsman.

ISABELA CITY, Basilan—The widows of Basilan congressman Wahab Akbar, suspected to have been assasinated by a political rival, have expressed deep worry the trial of already-known suspects may be derailed or diluted by political influence. They are thus calling for a speedy trial.