PNP asks House to surrender 5 party-list lawmakers

The Philippine National Police (PNP) asked yesterday the House of Representatives to surrender the five lawmakers who have been charged with plotting to oust President Arroyo.

Accused of conspiring with right-wing "military adventurists," Representatives Teodoro Casiño, Rafael Mariano, Liza Maza, Satur Ocampo and Joel Virador have been under the protection of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. since the Department of Justice filed charges of rebellion and coup d’état against them, along with 10 other people.

Chief Superintendent Jesus Verzosa, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director, they will take custody of the five lawmakers to ensure that they will be available if the court requires their presence in a rebellion trial.

"In the wake of this incident, the PNP will now petition the DOJ for the revocation of the House custody on account of this breach of courtesy," he said

On the other hand, Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao, PNP spokesman, said police had decided against arresting Maza so as not to create a big scene.

"The CIDG instead just monitored the situation but was ready to make the arrest should Maza suddenly make a run for the door and decide to jump custody," he said.

Police said Maza violated an agreement with the House on the terms of the lawmakers’ custody when she left the building late Monday to attend a meeting with senators.

Maza later returned to the House of Representatives, but Pagdilao issued a statement calling for the agreement to be revoked.

"In the wake of this incident, the (police) will now petition the (justice department) for the revocation of the House custody on account of this breach of courtesy," he said.

Police monitored Maza’s movements outside the House and were "ready to make the arrest" if the lawmaker decided to flee, he added.

Maza could not be reached for comment.

At the Makati Regional Trial Court, Romeo Capulong, lawyer for Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, accused PNP chief General Arturo Lomibao yesterday of framing his client on charges of rebellion.

Capulong also lashed out at Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, accusing government prosecutors of concocting evidence against the 73-year-old lawmaker.

"Here is a 73-year-old member of Congress who is being framed by Lomibao himself," he said in presenting Beltran before Executive Judge Sixto Marella of RTC Branch 138.

Before turning on Velasco, Capulong asked in open court: "Where is the evidence?"

Capulong said the state does have the right to protect itself, but it is not supposed to abuse authority and resort to transgressions of the rights of its citizens.

"This is all pure concoction," he said.

In defense, Velasco said Beltran and his lawyer were given every chance to counter the charges, but it was allegedly their decision not to respect the process when they disrupted the inquest proceedings at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City last week.

"When a man kills a tiger, it’s called sport; when a tiger kills a man, it’s called ferocity," he said, quoting the English writer George Bernard Shaw without explaining which was which in this particular case.

"Due process was accorded to them," Velasco said, trying to avoid a fight and referring to Beltran as a public servant and a freedom fighter.

Capulong told the court Beltran was being charged with rebellion based on 47 documents, inclusive of the testimonies of at least 11 witnesses, none of which categorically state how Beltran rebelled against the government.

He said he had examined every page of the complaint against Beltran and found only three items that could be considered as evidence, though he said even those three failed to prove that the accused had committed the crime of rebellion.

Capulong said the DOJ submitted testimonial evidence based on the affidavits of a Maj. Rino Corpus, a certain Raul Cachuera and one Roel Escala.

The testimony of Corpus related comments allegedly made by Beltran during a Makati rally last Feb. 24 in calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s ouster, he added.

Capulong said the same testimonial evidence was used in the charge of inciting to sedition filed by the DOJ against Beltran before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

"The public prosecutors can’t make up their mind," he said. "Is it inciting to sedition or rebellion?"

These are two different crimes because rebellion is defined as a public uprising, the taking up of arms and the removal of allegiance, he stressed.

Capulong said Cachuera testified on how Beltran allegedly met with communist rebels somewhere in Quezon Province between 1992 and 1993, or 14 years ago.

The defense has evidence to prove that Beltran was somewhere else during the day the meetings with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) were allegedly held, including a passport that would prove that the lawmaker left for Osaka, Japan and France during the period in question, he added.

Capulong said the third witness, Escala, claims only to have witnessed Beltran and several other party-list lawmakers alight from a van in Batangas while he was "answering a call of nature."

"He never heard anything," Capulong said.

Outside the Gusali ng Katarungan in Makati, a handful of Anak-pawis members held a rally under the watchful gaze of several dozen policemen.

Meanwhile, a founder of the political party of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday dared the five lawmakers holed up inside the House to make good on their threat to go underground if the government pursues rebellion charges against them.

Fr. Romeo Intengan, founding member of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalistang Pilipino (PDSP), said if Ocampo and his party-list colleagues wish to go underground, this will simply mean the end of a charade by which persons working for the overthrow of Philippine democracy pretend to have joined the political mainstream.

"(They) want to have the best of two situations — being able to obtain public office with the help of coercion by their armed comrades and at the same time being able to use the resources of their public office to overthrow the democratic system," he said.

Intengan warned politicians coddling the five lawmakers that they might be helping them escape the charges against them.

"For all the defects of our democracy, it will be stupid and extremely dangerous to substitute for it a Marxist-Leninist, one-party dictatorship," he said.

On the other hand, House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said the government’s belief that Ocampo and company are a flight risk would be bolstered if the lawmakers actually did threaten to go underground if denied justice.

"I hope Satur was only misquoted because going underground, if true, is a clear admission against his interest," he said.

"Justice is blindfolded. It can’t tilt to the balance that he wants. It all depends on evidence presented. His statement only strengthens the government position that there is a clear possibility of flight and escape."

Nograles said Ocampo, Maza, Casiño, Mariano and Virador should be made answerable to the charges to be filed against them by the government.

It won’t help for the lawmakers to make pronouncements on their options if the government intensifies the crackdown against those considered "enemies of the state," he added. — With reports from Michael Punongbayan, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Perseus Echeminada, Delon Porcalla, AFP