Group announces P1-million bounty on Maza, Mariano, 2 others
MANILA, Philippines — A civil society group on Saturday announced a P1-million bounty on former lawmakers tagged in the killing of three people in Nueva Ecija.
At a press conference, Citizens' Crime Watch said informants will be rewarded with P250,000 each for any leads on the whereabouts of National Anti-Poverty Commission chair Liza Maza, former agrarian reform secretary Rafael Mariano and former Bayan Muna party-list representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño.
Earlier, a Nueva Ecija court ordered the arrest of Maza, Mariano, Ocampo and Casiño in relation to the murders of farmers Danilo Felipe, Carlo Bayudang and Jimmy Peralta in 2001 and 2004, respectively.
Supporters of the former lawmakers claimed that the murder charges were trumped up and that the arrest order is part of “political persecution.”
“We will hold them accountable if something happened to Ka Paeng, Ka Satur, Teddy and Liza. By offering a bounty to former house members, they are endangering the lives of the Makabayan Four,” Rep. Ariel Casilao (Anakpawis Party-list) said in a statement.
“The Duterte government is weaponizing such wannabe anti-crime group... and is now using Gestapo methods to run after Duterte critics,” Casilao added.
Separately, Rep. Carlo Isagani Zarate (Bayan Muna Paty-list) said the bounty on four former solons was a “cheap political stunt and vendetta by sycophants who wants to claw their way to power.”
Zarate stressed that the case against the four "should have been dismissed ages ago but it was not because it is used for political persecution of progressives and they are reviving it now for the same purpose.” — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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