Manila, Philippines – The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the revival of the kidnapping with ransom case against former Indanan, Sulu Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his son, Haider, in connection with the abduction of an ABS-CBN News team in 2008, and ordered the setting aside of a trial court order last year that acquitted them.
Www.abs-cbnnews.com reported that in a 15-page decision penned by Associate Justice Romeo Barza, the appellate court’s Eleventh Division found merit in a petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) assailing an order dated April 12, 2010 by the Taguig Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 271 denying the OSG’s motion to defer promulgation of judgment to further present evidence.
The appellate court said that the trial court rendered its ruling with “grave abuse of discretion,” thus, the doctrine of double jeopardy did not apply in the case.