CA reverses release order of suspected Sinaloa cartel member
Mugshot of Australian suspect Gregor Johann Haas. (Philippine Bureau of Immigration via AP)
MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals has reversed a regional trial court’s (RTC) ruling that allowed the release of Australian fugitive Gregor Johann Haas, who is believed to be part of the notorious Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.
Haas is included in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) Red Notice that stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by Indonesian authorities. The Indonesian authorities accused Haas of attempting to smuggle drugs hidden in floor ceramic from Guadalajara, Mexico, to Indonesia.
Haas’ name surfaced following reports that the Indonesian government wants to trade former Bamban Mayor Alice Guo for Haas.
READ: Guo-Haas swap: Wanted Australian man not yet for deportation – BI
On May 15, 2024, Haas was arrested in Poblacion, San Remigio, Cebu by operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), in coordination with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine Naval Intelligence and Security Group.
His mother, Soledad Tolentino-Haas filed a petition for habeas corpus for her son’s release. She said there was also no compliance with due process in effecting her son’s arrest.
A writ of habeas corpus is a remedy applicable to cases of illegal confinement or detention where a person is deprived of his or her liberty or where the rightful custody of any person is withheld from the person entitled thereto.
Natural-born Filipino
She added that the BI has no jurisdiction over her son because there was no pending case in the Philippines and that he is a natural-born Filipino citizen who cannot be summarily deported.
Court records showed that Haas’ family obtained Australian citizenship during the 80s, but Gregor also took an oath of allegiance, proving his intention to remain a Filipino citizen.
The BI appealed the ruling while Soledad filed for execution pending appeal which the court granted. This ruling prompted the BI to take the case to the Court of Appeals.
In its ruling, the Appeals Court stated that the lower court had gravely abused its discretion in allowing Haas’s release.
It said that reacquiring Filipino citizenship with no pending case is not enough to allow his release.
“The case laws require not just any reason, but superior circumstances demanding urgency which will outweigh the injury or damage,” the Appeals Court said.
The Appeals Court noted that even the circumstances of Haas’ reacquiring Filipino citizenship was questionable, considering that he took an oath of allegiance only about a week after his arrest.
“It is sufficient for now that, evidently, the trial court failed to demonstrate and meet the ‘good reasons’ requirement of the exceptional rule of an execution of a judgment pending appeal,” the court said as it stopped the lower court from implementing the release of Haas.
The decision was written by Associate Justice Apolinario D. Bruselas Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas and Jaime Fortunato A. Caringal. / MR