Court Releases Alleged Coddlers of Recaptured Magdalo

BY BULATLAT
Posted 6:16 p.m. Feb. 22, 2006

After 17 hours of detention, the two accused of coddling Army 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan were released from detention at around 3:30 p.m.

Atty. Ruel Pulido, counsel for the two, said in a telephone interview with Bulatlat that Jose Christopher Belmonte and Albert Guyal were released on a P12,000 bail each from the Batangas Police Provincial Office. They were earlier charged for violating RA 1829 (harboring a criminal).

The two were arrested together with San Juan around 5:30 a.m. Feb. 21 at a police checkpoint in Barangay (village) San Felipe, Lipa City, Batangas (84 km. south of Manila). San Juan is one of the Magdalo 4 who escaped from detention Feb. 17.

Magdalo was the group that staged the Oakwood mutiny. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been conducting manhunt operations to recapture the Magdalo 4 ever since their escape.

Earlier reports quoted Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) chief Maj. Gen. Pedro Cabuay Jr. as saying the two arrested with San Juan are members of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Pulido denied this however and said Belmonte is counsel for San Juan who was on his way to meet his client while Guyal drove Belmonte to the site.

The third person arrested, Jose Cruz Guerra, who was also tagged by Cabuay as an NPA guerilla, was also released. However, his lawyer Conrado Manicad said in a separate interview with Bulatlat that Guerra is an ordinary driver who took his employers from Malabon to Tiaong, Quezon (100 km south of Manila). On his way home, Manicad said his client got lost in Padre Garcia town in Batangas and just happened to pass by the checkpoint in the said area when he was arrested.

Guerra’s arrest came five hours after that of San Juan, Belmonte and Guyal. He was detained for 17 hours without charges. He was released after his lawyer threatened to file charges against the military. Bulatlat

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