Arresting an elderly journo, abetting a private army
The arrest of 72-year-old journalist Philip Lustre last Saturday for cyberlibel violated his civil rights and legal processes:
• It was done on a weekend, when courts were closed and posting bail for a non-serious offense was laborious.
• Arresting officers could not say who the complainant was, only that the warrant came from Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 10.
• Philip was unaware of any lawsuit because never summoned by the Davao city prosecutor to answer the complaint.
• At 72, Philip was handcuffed although incapable of resisting or fleeing.
A journo of 51 years, Philip recently launched an update of his book “Kill, Kill, Kill” about police mass killings of drug suspects during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency.
Also last Saturday, headlines blared the P50-million reward for the capture of fugitive senator Bato Dela Rosa.
DILG Sec. Jonvic Remulla justified the amount because Bato is being coddled by a heavily armed community in Davao City.
Troubling is the existence of an armed community in Davao City, the country’s largest.
The Constitution recognizes only one army, the AFP. Any other is an illegal private army of an individual, family, corporation or gang.
The law defines “private army” as consisting of two or more armed individuals, usually under a politico.
Why an armed community exists in Davao or anywhere, Remulla must explain. His position requires that he dismantle all private armies.
Remulla wouldn’t say how big the Davao army is, just that an assault on it to take Bato “could lead to 10,000 casualties.” Bigger, he said, than the May-October 2017 Marawi terrorist siege, in which 1,213 perished.
PNP Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. also wouldn’t give the number, only an illustration: “For example, if the coddlers are 10 people, then we’ll need 100 operatives.”
Bato has been hiding since November 2025 from an arrest warrant by International Criminal Court at The Hague. He was named “co-perpetrator” of Duterte in crimes against humanity.
Bato reappeared for two days last May to help install Alan Cayetano as Senate president. Remulla tried to arrest him but was stopped when Cayetano invoked, “Senate protective custody.”
Amid a mock gun battle with an NBI agent by Senate guards under a retired police general recommended by Bato, he escaped in the wee hours of the morning aided by Sen. Robin Padilla.
The P50-million bounty is the largest in Philippine law enforcement history. E-sabong magnate Atong Ang has a P20-million price on his head, wanted for the kidnapping and murder in April 2021-January 2022 of 34 “missing sabungeros [cockfighters].”
Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan had a $5-million reward, but it was put up by the US government after listing him as Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist. He was killed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in January 2015 in a raid in which 44 PNP Special Action Force commandos were massacred covering the retreat of the capturing unit.
Cayetano’s 11-man Minority said Bato’s “right to due process must be upheld despite the ICC warrant against him.”
Bato is armed and dangerous, being a former PNP chief with 118 licensed handguns, high-powered automatic rifles and shotguns. VP Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial recently revealed her and husband Manases Carpio’s ownership of 51 short and long arms.
Speaking of which, only Monday night did journo Philip find out that his cyber libel complainant is Manases Carpio. Davao City RTC Branch 10 Judge Retrina Fuentes had sent the arrest warrant not to Philip’s residence but to an unknown office.
Prosecutor-on-case is Jhopee Salvador Avanceña.
Avanceña also handles a separate cyber libel case filed only last Friday by Rep. Paolo Duterte. Respondents: NBI Director Melvin Matibag and ex-cop Rodulfo Gracioso, who swore in affidavit to have delivered suitcases of cash to Rep. Paolo and sister Sara when the latter was Davao City mayor.
Matibag wants Avanceña replaced for bias, being the first cousin of ex-president Duterte’s common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña.
Sued as well for scooping Gracioso’s confession are GMA Network chairman Felipe Gozon, president Gilberto Duavit Jr., news anchors Mel Tiangco, Vicky Morales and Emil Sumangil, senior reporter Darlene Cay, executive producer Marvin Parado and director Joel San Luis.
Philip’s counsel, human rights lawyer Dino de Leon, said: “For every journalist watching, it is a warning. Big corporations like GMA or ordinary citizens like Philip, ide-demanda kayo ng mga Duterte. Tatakutin kayo. Ganyan ang mensahe ng mga Duterte.
“Kung makakabalik sila sa pwesto, candidate kayo para i-tokhang, kagaya ng ginawa nila sa 67 abogado, journalists, human rights workers nu’ng panahon ni Rodrigo Duterte.”
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