on arrest of RPA leader
An immediate investigation by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process, Armed Forces of the Philippines and National Police on the arrest of a leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade and confiscation of firearms from his possession is being sought by Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano.
Paduano, a former national commander of the RPA-ABB, said the raid on the house of Marlon de los Santos in San Carlos City, appears to be a violation of the peace agreement between the government and the RPM-P-RPA-ABB.
De los Santos was immediately charged for violation of RA 10591, or the amended law on illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, before the San Carlos City Prosecutor’s Office.
The raid on the house of de los Santos in Brgy. 2, San Carlos City, yielded an M-16 assault rifle, a carbine and a .45 caliber pistol, with magazines of assorted ammunition, police records showed.
De los Santos used to be the RPA-ABB commander in the 1st district of Negros Occidental. He is now the secretary of the KAPATIRAN para sa Progresong Panlipunan (Brotherhood for Social Progress), which used to be the RPA-ABB.
Paduano said OPPAP, AFP and PNP should investigate the arrest of de los Santos, to determine if there was politics, or it was an attempt to sabotage the ongoing peace agreement between the RPM-P-RPA-ABB and the government.
Col. Jon Aying, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, said there is need for an immediate dialog between the OPPAP, Kapatiran and the PNP to resolve it, as soon as possible.
“We don’t want to jeopardize the peace process,” Aying said stressing that he had noted a lapse of coordination among government agencies.
In an interview with ABS-CBN, Chief Supt. Josephus Angan, regional police director of Western Visayas, justified the arrest of de los Santos and the confiscation of guns from his residence, saying that they followed procedures in conducting the raid.
Angan said that if de los Santos is indeed a member of the RPA-ABB, it is up to him to prove this in court and present documents that the guns taken from him are covered by the profiling.
If they have the documents, it must be presented to the Fiscal’s Office. But I think they failed to present their evidence… what we have will be the search warrant issued by the judge and the result of operations on the illegal items, specifically firearms, that were in his possession, he added.
The Regional Special Operations Group of the Western Visayas police led the simultaneous raids in San Carlos City, that also led to the arrest of Kagawad Jose Tam Ramas and Mario Ramas in Brgy. Nataban, San Carlos City.
A .45 caliber pistol with a magazine containing nine ammunition, as well as a Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver and 27 rounds of 5.56 mm bullets were taken from the houses of the kagawad and Ramas, who are now charged for violation of RA 10591.
The three suspects are still in jail, as of yesterday.
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