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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