By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) has stopped a Taguig court from releasing an Australian national wanted by the Indonesian government on drug charges.
In a decision dated May 14 and made public Monday, the appellate court’s Third Division stopped the Taguig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 267 from freeing Gregor Haas, an alleged Sinoloa drug cartel operator.
The CA ruling granted the Bureau of Immigration (BI) petition, which questioned Taguig City RTC Judge Antonio Olivete’s decision in December 2024 for the “execution pending appeal” of his order granting liberty to Haas as sought by his Filipina mother, Soledad.
In her petition, Soledad pointed out that Haas is not facing criminal charges in the Philippines and is a Filipino citizen.
The RTC agreed, saying that despite his naturalization as an Australian, Haas did not lose his original Philippine citizenship.
“Had the reason for Gregor’s arrest been based on the filing of a criminal action against him, reference to such criminal action, or the lack thereof, would have been relevant. But Gregor was detained not because of the pendency of any criminal action against him in Philippine courts, but for violating immigration law,” the CA said.
“The good reasons required by the rules should, therefore, have been primarily assessed not in the context of criminal law, but of immigration law. Again, the matter of the significance of the immigration restraint order under which Gregor was in custody is better threshed out during the evaluation of the appeal.”
The appellate court added 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 when it ordered the execution pending appeal of its order that granted the privilege of the writ to Gregor, “which failure amounted to grave abuse of discretion that may be corrected by a writ of certiorari.”
The appeal on the case of whether Haas should be considered a Filipino citizen as ruled by the Taguig RTC is now pending before another division of the CA.
Haas, 47, fled to the Philippines in August 2023.
He is being sought for deportation by Indonesian authorities for drug trafficking after he allegedly tried to bring in five kilos of shabu.
He acquired Australian citizenship when his family migrated in the 1980s. Following his arrest by Philippine immigration authorities in May 2024, Haas pleaded allegiance as a Filipino. (PNA)
