Accused in Balweg slay freed

BAGUIO CITY – One of the accused in the 1999 killing of priest-turned-rebel Conrado Balweg was freed after spending five months in the Abra provincial jail.

Meanwhile, three leaders of a militant farmers’ group in the Ilocos region were also released last Friday.

Citing lack of probable cause, the Abra Regional Trial Court Judge Corpuz Alzate dismissed the murder charges against United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) pastor Francisco Bonuan in connection with Balweg’s slay on Dec. 30, 1999.

Bonuan was arrested in Baguio City last April.

Bonuan’s case was the fifth filed against church and NGO workers in Ilocos Sur since the Balweg killing. All have been dismissed.

Meanwhile, Julian Daoa, Rogelio Vilog and Leonardo Sabalo, all leaders of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-affiliated STOP Exploitation farmer’s alliance in the Ilocos region, found themselves free last Friday after the Candon City court dismissed the charges of murder, arson and serious physical injuries against them.

The charges stemmed from the New People’s Army raid on the police station in Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur in 2003.

Candon City RTC Judge Policarpio Martinez noted that the two police officers who testified for the prosecution claimed that they saw but did not recognize any of the communist rebels who set the police station on fire. 

Militant groups hailed the dismissal of the charges against the three farmer leaders.