Detained former New People’s Army leader Rodolfo Salas will enjoy temporary liberty after the Supreme Court allowed him to post bail.
The bail was set at P200,000 for the former rebel leader, who faces a murder case in Manila.
The order for Salas’ provisional release was handed down through a resolution by the SC’s Third Division ordered Salas’ provisional release from his detention at the Manila City Jail upon posting of the cash bond is detained for another lawful cause.
But Salas’ son petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order that would stop proceedings in the murder case of his father before the Regional Trial Court of Manila was dismissed “for lack of merit.”
Last month, the police arrested the 72-year-old Salas on the strength of an arrest warrant for murder for a case over the discovery of a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte, in 2006 that allegedly contained the skeletal remains of victims of the “purging” allegedly done by the NPA in the 1980s.
Earlier, Salas’ son, Jody, sought for his father’s release before the SC, saying that the elder Salas could no longer be prosecuted for murder because the offense was absorbed in his conviction for rebellion in 1991.
Their lawyers said the conviction was based on a plea bargain agreement that shields Salas from further prosecution for crimes committed in furtherance of rebellion.
But Solicitor General Jose Calida, who represents the Manila judge in charge of the pending murder case, argued that the acts in the old rebellion charge did not include the present 15 counts of murder and could not be “automatically considered” to have been absorbed.
Arno Sanidad of the defense, however, argued that the murders were allegedly committed in 1985 and thus fall under the rebellion conviction, which he said covers all acts committed from 1970 to 1986.
Salas’ bail was discussed during oral arguments on his habeas corpus case last week, where Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo asked Sanidad if they would consider availing of the doctrine in the 2015 SC ruling that granted bail to former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who was 91 at the time, on humanitarian grounds.
The Sandiganbayan also cited the same doctrine when it allowed former first lady Imelda Marcos post-conviction bail in 2018.
Sanidad said they would like to move for bail but said the “closest basis” would be the case of ex-Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo, who is also an accused in the murder case and whom the SC granted bail in 2014.
“In a similar case pending in the Regional Trial Court, bail was granted to Saturnino Ocampo in G.R. No. 176830,” the SC noted in the new resolution.
Meanwhile, a council member of militant group Karapatan was arrested recently in Lando de Norte, and is being accused of being a ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Karapatan Council Member Teresita Naul was arrested on Sunday, March 15, in her relative’s home in Lala, Lanao del Norte.
Naul is a long-time officer of Karapatan Northern Mindanao, and was recently red-tagged in a leaflet spread in Northern Mindanao cities accusing her as a ranking officer of the regional Communist Party of the Philippines.
In a statement, the 4th Infantry Division claimed that Naul is the Secretary of Regional White Area Committee based in North Central Mindanao.
Naul is facing charges of kidnapping and illegal detention and arson with no fixed bail filed in the Regional Trial Court in Bayugan, Agusan del Sur.
In July 2018, 13 human rights workers and leaders of progressive groups accused of being members of the New People’s Army were arrested by police and military personnel in a raid on a retreat center here on Wednesday night.
Naul, who was in Opol, Misamis Oriental, was among the 13 arrested.
The arrest happened at the the Mother Francisca Sprituality Center along Arradaza Street in Barangay Lagao where the suspected rebels were said to be holding a program consultation.
Elements from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-12, Army-led Joint Task Force GenSan and the city police presented warrants of arrest for two of the suspects, Francis Madria and Maria Limbaga Unabia, who were tagged as members of the NPA in Northern Mindanao.
The two have standing arrest warrants for murder, attempted murder, frustrated murder and kidnapping with murder issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 8 Judge Isobel Baroso in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon and RTC Branch 23 Judge Vincent Rosales in Cagayan de Oro City.
The 11 others were identified as Naul, of Opol, Misamis Oriental; Aldeem Yanez of Cagayan de Oro City; Vennel Chenfoo of Cagayan de Oro City; Jomorito Guaynon of Bukidnon; Analiza Avenido of Bukidnon; Roger Plana of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental; Kristine Cabardo of Cagayan de Oro City; Virgilio Sanama of Purok 4, Rajah Muda, Barangay Bula, this city; Byron Gabales Porras of Zone 2-C, Barangay Bula, this city; Ireneo Udarbe of Misamis Oriental; and Rosemarie Cantano of Glan, Sarangani Province.
