RED-TAGGING | Supreme Court promises to protect red-tagged Mandaluyong judge

March 19, 2021 , 07:23 PM

(March 19, 2021) – The Supreme Court has provided protection to a red-tagged regional trial court judge who had ordered a journalist and a trade union organizer free after they were arrested by the police, the chief justice said on Friday.

Diosdado Peralta said it was the duty of the high court to protect all judges, including Mandaluyong Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio who was harassed after some groups did not agree with her decision.

Peralta said the high court has granted the judge’s request but he did not explain what the local magistrate had asked for.

“If her life is threatened, the first thing that we do is protect her because she’s our employee. Whatever it is, we have to protect her,” Peralta said in a chance interview with reporters at the New Caloocan City Judicial Building.

An unknown group had unfurled a tarpaulin at a footbridge along a busy highway in Mandaluyong linking Judge Quisumbing-Ignacio to the Maoist-led rebel forces.

[READ: TARPAULIN TACTIC | Judge gets red-tagged after freeing journalist and trade unionist]

The banner made it appear the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army are thanking the judge for her decision to dismiss the cases filed by the police against Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem and labor unionist Rodrigo Esparago. The CPP said they did not put up the tarpaulin.

The two were arrested in December after unregistered guns were found in their homes.

Two months later, the Mandaluyong judge dismissed the complaints after quashing the search warrants used by the police during the raids in Salem and Esparago homes, ruling the warrants were vague. The judge also said the police and informants made conflicting and inconsistent testimonies.

[READ: RED-TAGGING | Mandaluyong court junks raps against journalist and trade unionist arrested last month]

Peralta said the Supreme Court respects the decision of the judge, maintaining the independence of the regional court.

Attacks on legal professionals have escalated since 2016 when President Rodrigo Duterte rose to power.

The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) said at least 61 legal professionals have died in the last five years under Duterte’s term, the highest figure in four decades.

[READ: KILLINGS | Lawyers’ group flags rampant killing of legal professionals under Duterte’s term]

Faculty members from the University of the Philippines College of Law also urged the Supreme Court to create a special committee for lawyers’ protection which would help investigate the attacks.

UP Law professors called on the high court to look into the request of the Calbayog City police to profile lawyers who allegedly represented groups and personalities linked to communist forces.

“I cannot speak for other members of the court but what I can do is place in the agenda and let that petition be raffled and let us see what would be the recommendation of the member-in-charge,” Peralta said, adding the court might also ask for an explanation from the national police force.

“As I said, as of now, what we know are those we read from newspapers and claims we read from other persons and let us see what will happen in the next en banc session.”

(Beatrice Puente/MM)

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