By Perfecto Raymundo
MANILA, (PNA) — The Court of Appeals has tapped the justices who will rule on the petition of the brother of Janet Lim Napoles.
In his petition, Reynald “Jojo” L. Lim asked the CA to void the non-bailable warrant of arrest issued by the Makati City Regional Trial Court against him.
The case was raffled off with the CA’s Seventh Division.
The ponente who will be tasked to study and write the case will be Associate Justice Noel Tijam, Chairman of the said division.
Tijam is the same justice who slammed the Dept. of Justice for sleeping on the case of a suspected female drug pusher who was arrested with her live-in partner for possessing shabu in Quezon City and has been illegally detained since 2007.
Tijam has granted the petition for certiorari and habeas corpus filed by Joan Urbina y Chua and ordered her release after five years.
The other justices who will handle the case of Lim are Associate Justices Romeo Barza and Ramon Cruz.
In the 40-page petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by Lim before the CA last Aug. 22, he sought the intervention of the CA to declare that there is no probable cause against him for the crime of serious illegal detention of victim Benhur Luy.
Lim asked the CA that the Makati City RTC arrest order be reversed and the issuance of warrant of arrest be quashed.
He also asked the CA to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the arrest warrant issued by Makati City RTC Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda.
In addition, the petitioner asked that a writ of preliminary injunction be issued enjoining the National Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies.
In the petition, Lim accused Judge Alameda of acting “whimsically and arbitrarily when he denied the motion for judicial determination of probable cause and issued the warrant of arrest even before the motion be heard.”
Lim even accused Luy of misleading Justice Secretary Leila M. De Lima after the latter ordered the rescue of Luy and the investigation of the case.
As of Tuesday, Lim has not yet been arrested.