BAILED. Top NPA leader, Roy
Erecre (center) gets a briefing from legal counsels Victor dela Serna and Adam
Relson Jala, while waiting for the hearing at RTC Brank 49 to start. Erecre's
camp submitted a motion to bail during the September 16 hearing for his
rebellion case. The preliminary hearing is set on October 7.
The detained Boholano ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) found a chance to be granted bail in his rebellion case lodged at Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 49.
This cropped up after none of the eight witnesses for the government showed up during the hearing on September 16, during which the camp of the accused, Roy Erecre, submitted the motion to bail.
Late words reaching the Chronicle just before deadline last night revealed that the ranking CPP-NPA leader was released late Friday after he posted bail.
Erecre’s legal counsels, Victor dela Serna and Adam Relson Jala, said the hearing was even delayed by few minutes to await if any witness will show up in court.
RTC Branch 49 Judge Fernando Fuentes III set the preliminary hearing on October 7 wherein it would be known if the motion to bail will be granted.
The quick issuance of bail for the temporary liberty of Erecre surprised some sectors especially in the military,
Erecre, also known as Vide Alguna, Toto and Pasyong, served as secretary of the Central Visayas Regional Committee of the CPP-NPA.
He has been detained at the Bohol District Jail in Cabawan after his capture some time in May this year.
He was captured by the combined forces of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and the Davao City police at around 11 a.m. on May 7.
Authorities cornered him and his girlfriend, a certain Judith Jaron-Niog, at Doña Salud Subdivision in Sasa, Davao City.
In the afternoon of the same day, authorities transported Erecre to Cebu via Butuan City after the CIDG had taken his mug shots, fingerprinting, initial information and medical check-up.
Erecre had eight pending cases then--robbery in band and rebellion in Bohol courts, three cases in Negros and another one in a court in Cebu.
So far the robbery in band had been dismissed recently.
After his capture in May, he was first turned over to courts in Cebu that issued his warrants of arrest for a number of non-bailable criminal offenses in Bohol and Cebu including atrocities against civilians and government forces in late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Davao team turned over Erecre to Bohol authorities and is now detained at the Bohol District Jail.
He reportedly led the ambush and killings in 1999 of Lt. Que and Lt. Bungaos in Carmen, according to the military information.
Erecre, described by the military as “an alternate member of the Central Committee of the CPP-NPA” carried a bounty of P5.4 million.
The military and police believed Erecre must have been in Davao for a mission where the NPAs remain active.
There were also some information that Erecre had been groomed to replace spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, chair and finance officer of the CPP-NPA, respectively--who were arrested in March this year.
Erecre, the third in the CPP-NPA hierarchy, could have assumed the top leadership after the arrest of the the Tiamzons.
Authorities continue the hunt for the rest of Erecre’s comrades who are also believed to be having a vacation in Mindanao.
http://boholchronicle.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2265:captured-top-npa-leader-posted-bail&catid=65:major-events&Itemid=137
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.