Women arrested in Aloguinsan lot protest freed

CEBU, Philippines - Seventeen women charged for direct assault and resisting arrest before the Regional Trial Court in Toledo City for allegedly trying to prevent the fencing off of a private property in Aloguinsan town have been freed on bail.

Defense lawyer Ian Manticajon said 15 women were released from the detention cells of the police stations of Pinamungajan and Toledo City around 7:30 p.m. yesterday after Judge Ruben Altubar of RTC Branch 29 signed their released order.

Earlier yesterday, two female students of the University of the Philippines also posted bail at P14,000 each.

Manticajon said the Executive Judge of RTC Toledo City Judge Hermes Montero who heard their motion for reduction of bail and motion for recognizance granted the reduction of bail but denied the recognizance.

Meanwhile, the 19 men who were detained at Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center after they were arrested during the same event have not been released as of yesterday night as the requirements for their release were not yet complete.

However, Manticajon said Altubar directed his personnel to extend their office to 8 p.m. to entertain the possible release of the accused, to no avail.

He said if they cannot comply with the requirements of the court, the 19 men, one of them a UP student, will be released on Monday.

Manticajon said the women were so happy after they were released but they were also saddened by the ruling of Montero despite their plea that the men will just be detained in Toledo City and not in the CPDRC.

All the accused were arrested last Monday after they allegedly tried to prevent the fencing of a private property of the Gantuangco family in Aloguinsan.

Meanwhile, ANAKPAWIS Partylist Rep. Rafael Mariano said he will be pushing for a congressional inquiry on the incident.

Violence broke out after 200 policemen and representatives of the Gantuangco family dispersed the human barricade of 39 farmers and peasant advocates belonging to the San Roque Farmers Association who tried to stop enforcement of a court order on the fencing of the property in Barangay Bonbon, Aloguinsan.

Mariano said this is not the first time that the San Roque farmers faced violence and repression from local authorities and landlords. (FREEMAN)