Benguet prosecutors release captured Reds

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — After spending only a week in jail, all six New People‘s Army guerillas nabbed in Mankayan town last week were freed by the Benguet prosecutor.

The rebels were released upon posting bail after Benguet Provincial Prosecutor Felix Cabading junked the sedition raps against them for lack of evidence.

Cabading said he found "no showing of any public or tumultuous uprising with the use of force, intimidation or any extra legal means committed by the six" to constitute the crime of sedition as charged by the police.

Police identified the suspected rebels as Estella H. Galleto alias Elvie, 20, single and a native of Cabaran, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur; Lucena S. Tilag alias Ibo, 24, a native of Sadanga, Mountain Province; Denver L. Simon alias Daryl, 26, a native of Itogon, Benguet; Rosaline F. Gudchan alias Liana, 26, a native of Sadanga, Mountain Province; Robert B. Navarette alias Yvonne, 25, native of Quirino town, in Ilocos Sur; and James A. Galleto alias Dennies, a native of Cervantes, Ilocos Sur.

All are allegedly confessed members of the NPA Jennifer Cariño Command operating in Northern Benguet and Ilocos Sur.

Police captured the group at the residence of Antonio Paydoen at Barangay Bulalacao in Mankayan on Oct. 22.

One M16 rifle, with five fully loaded magazines, one caliber .45 Llama pistol, one homemade caliber .22 and one carbine M1 caliber .30 with two fully loaded magazines were seized from the rebels.

Cabading said, even their alleged admission that they belong to the CPP-NPA and their alleged mission of informing the Mankayan residents of the presence of the said NPA command, "cannot help the case."

He added that, "even granting that the respondents indeed belong to a movement, there is nothing in the evidence to prove that they were engaged in any act constituting sedition."

Cordillera police director Chief Superintendent Victor Luga said the release of the six rebels is a big setback to the fight against the communist iunsurgency in Benguet.

Luga said the local communist movement in Benguet is just starting to regroup and form a "guerilla front" with at least 24 members.

Benguet police director Sr. Supt. Conrado Miñano said police forces will pursue the remnants of the JCC and continue operations in coordination with the military.