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THE first writ of amparo and habeas data case ever filed at the
Sandiganbayan has been dismissed.
The Second Division of the Antigraft Court has
junked the petition for the issuance of writs of amparo and habeas
data filed against Gov. Joselito ‘Jonjon’ Mendoza of Bulacan and
several police and local officials in Malolos City last April.
While the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and
the Regional Trial Courts handles writ of amparo and habeas data
cases, this is the first time that such a case reached the
Sandiganbayan.
The 15-page resolution of the Sandiganbayan
penned by Associate Justice Teresita Diaz-Baldos junked the case for
there is a similar case pending another court. Associate Justices
Samuel Martires and Edilberto Sandoval concurred.
The Sandiganbayan said that petitioners
Francisco Galman Cruz and Francisco Ternida Cruz committed forum
shopping since a similar case was filed before a regional trial
court in Bulacan.
“This court finds that the instant petition,
aside from being intrinsically deficient, is not the proper remedy
to be pursued by the petitioners, and cannot be countenanced as it
partakes of forum-shopping,” the ruling stated.
The case stemmed from Mendoza’s ordering the
petitioner’s families eviction last February from the so-called
Pinoy Compound, a 400-square meter lot located along McArthur
Highway, Barangay Guinhawa in Malolos.
-- Jomar Canlas
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