Families of political prisoners urged the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) anew to reject a regional trial court judge’s ongoing application for promotion to a higher chamber.
The group Kapatid said Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert, former Executive Judge of Quezon City and presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 89 is unworthy of being named to other the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) or the anti-graft chamber Sandiganbayan.
Villavert’s warrants mirror a breakdown in judicial safeguards whose search orders were rejected by other judges as “faulty.”
In a position paper submitted to the JBC, Kapatid said the controversial judge issued search warrants between 2018 and 2020 that led to the arrest of 76 individuals, most of them activists charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Sixty-nine of those arrested has since been released, and 57 cases were dismissed after the warrants were quashed or the accused acquitted.
“Several courts, including the Supreme Court, voided multiple warrants for non-conformity with established constitutional rules and evidence,” the group pointed out.
“This is not a matter of ordinary appellate disagreement,” said Fides Lim, Kapatid spokesperson. “It reflects repeated failure to meet constitutional standards at the very threshold where judicial power must safeguard liberty.”
A search warrant is among the most coercive powers a judge may authorize, allowing the State to intrude into homes, seize property, and restrain liberty, Kapatid explained.
Recurring defects
Courts cited recurring defects in Villavert’s warrants, including failure to particularly describe the place to be searched and the items to be seized, and failure to conduct a thorough examination of applicants and witnesses.
Kapatid highlighted the human toll, citing the case of Reina Mae Nasino, who gave birth while in detention in July 2020 and, three months later, attended her infant daughter’s funeral in handcuffs.
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Nasino was released after three years and acquitted when the warrant against her was nullified.
Seven political prisoners remain from what has been dubbed a “search warrant factory”: Vicente Ladlad (Lim’s husband), Alberto and Virginia Villamor, Romina Astudillo, Mark Ryan Cruz, Joel Demate, and Jaymie Gregorio.
They face identical charges stemming from similar warrants nullified for constitutional breaches, the group pointed out.
“The ICC’s intervention exposes a crisis of judicial credibility that makes the JBC’s responsibility even more urgent,” Lim said. “Only judges of proven competence, independence, and integrity should be elevated to higher judicial office such as the Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeals,” she added.
“Judge Villavert’s record of repeatedly voided warrants and the grave human consequences disqualify her from promotion. The rule of law demands accountability — not advancement,” Lim said.
Aside from the CTA and Sandiganbayan, Villavert had long been an applicant for promotion to the Court of Appeals.
Other rights groups such as Karapatan and victims of her “faulty warrants” have also written to the the JBC to oppose her application. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
