National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde has asked four former leftist lawmakers to turn themselves in to authorities following the issuance of an arrest warrant against them by a Nueva Ecija judge linking them to double-murder cases.
“I am also appealing to these individuals to just turn themselves in, and to submit themselves to judicial processes,” the PNP chief said during a news briefing on Monday at Camp Crame.
Regional Trial Court Branch 40 Judge Evelyn Atienza-Turla ordered the arrest two weeks ago of former Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teodoro A. Casiño, former Gabriela Party-list Rep. and now National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Chairman Liza L. Maza and former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael V. Mariano.
The four have been accused of conspiracy in the killings in 2006 of Carlito Bayudang on May 6, 2004, in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, and Jimmy Peralta on December 3, 2003.
Peralta, who was ran over by a car, was allegedly mistaken for his brother Ricardo, the alleged real target of the attack.
The warrant of arrest issued by the court in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, also included and covered three other respondents identified as Vicente Cayetano, Delfin Pimentel and Emeterio Antalan.
Albayalde said the PNP has already received a copy of the arrest order, which gives them no choice, but to implement it, unless, otherwise, the respondents will voluntarily surrender.
“The PNP is duty-bound to implement orders of judicial authorities. That is our constitutional mandate that law enforcers must abide with due consideration to human rights and dignity of the accused,” he said.
“I have directed the CIDG [Criminal Investigation and Detection Group] over the weekend to immediately send out arresting teams to serve the warrant of arrest,” he added.
At a news conference last week, Bayan Muna condemned the issuance of the warrant of arrest over the charges that were filed in 2004, although it said it would asked Turla to reconsider the charges.
Rachel Pastores, lawyer of Ocampo and the three other former lawmakers, said the charges were based on testimonies of discredited witnesses, who lost to countercharges that were filed against them by Ocampo and the other respondents.
On the other hand, Bayan Muna Chairman Neri J. Colmenares noted that the charges were revived after the assumption of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The charges were filed in 2004 when Arroyo was the country’s president and with the late Raul Gonzalez as justice secretary.