German conservationist frustrated by the Philippine Judicial System

Jun Ariolo N. Aguirre
Odiongan, Romblon - A German conservationist is frustrated by the negligent operation of the Philippine judicial system and the slow action of the Regional Trial Court that filed the case here for already more than a year.

Conservationist Prof. Eberhard Curio said, he came back to Odiongan, Romblon, following the agreement with the trial court last December 2006 according to which he was supposed to be scheduled to appear before the court March 15 to attend his case only to find out that his pre-arranged schedule to testify was neglected to be recorded in the calendar of the court.

Curio filed a case of robbery, later turned to theft, against laborer Arnel Gabo of San Andres, Romblon, after the latter allegedly robbed several valuable belongings of Curio in RGF beach resort in San Andres in March 14, 2006. Gabo was arrested by the Romblon police the same night the theft occurred after some witnesses had seen him around the vicinity of Curio’s room before the incident transpired..

Based on the arresting officer’s affidavit, Gabo admitted the crime of looting the belongings of Curio.

Curio was in Romblon in March 2006 for an exploratory mission of determining the existence bird species and had prepared the taking of genetic samples in the said province based on a collecting permit issued by the DENR. Since 1995 Curio’s conservation and development project is partner of the DENR by way of MOA.

During the originally scheduled hearing, assistant prosecutor Petroni Fradejas claimed that the hearing could not be resumed as scheduled because Gabo’s lawyer was attending an important seminar in Manila about which notice had not been given in time that could have served to change the court’s calendar.

Curio said, he should have been notified beforehand by all means so that he would not have squandered his time and money to attend the hearing which had been cancelled. The loss of money, time, and opportunity afflicted also Curio’s team of translator and bodyguard. The responsibility for all this quandary lies ultimately with the Department of Justice.

The hearing was then re-scheduled by Branch 82; Judge Jose Madrid ordered the delayed hearing to be resumed on May 17 of this year. And only in September will it be possible for Curio to appear in court again for the final judicial evaluation of the case.