Manila court grants ex-NBI chief temporary protection

A Manila court on Thursday granted a request by former National Bureau of Investigation chief Magtanggol Gatdula for temporary protection, due to alleged death threats against him and his family. In a three-page order, Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch 26, found sufficient basis to accommodate Gatdula's request, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported. The judge ordered the appropriate government agencies to provide such temporary protection to the ex-NBI director. Gatdula had claimed to receive “sensitive information” that convinced him he and even his family were at risk. Last Feb. 27, he sought a writ of amparo to restrain Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, NBI officer-in-charge Nonnatus Rojas and NBI deputy director for technical services Reynaldo Esmeralda from threatening his life and liberty. Gatdula claimed De Lima and the NBI were about to link him to an ambush on Esmeralda in Manila last February 21. The Department of Justice and the NBI denied the claims. Dismissal from NBI Gatdula was sacked from the NBI after President Benigno Aquino III admitted that he no longer trusts Gatdula. “At the end of the day, the head of the principal agencies will be a person who has our trust and confidence. The trust is no longer there,” Aquino said in an interview at an electrification program rites in Malacañang last January. Gatdula has been linked to the alleged "arrest-extortion" by NBI agents of a Japanese national Noriyo Ohara. Ohara, who arrived in the Philippines in 2009 and assumed a Filipino identity, was reportedly "arrested" by NBI agents in Pangasinan on Oct. 29, 2011.   In exchange for her freedom, NBI agents allegedly demanded P15 million from the foster family that took care of the 33-year-old Ohara during her stay in the Philippines. A DOJ fact-finding panel earlier completed its investigation into the matter and recommended charges against several NBI agents, including Gatdula. But after his dismissal from the NBI, Gatdula vowed to clear his name. — LBG, GMA News