The Philippine National Police is set to file a complaint for illegal possession of an explosive against an alleged ranking leader of the New People’s Army who was arrested Friday in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental.
The regular filing of the complaint is expected Monday at the earliest or anytime this week against the suspect identified as Rene Bustamante who is in his early 50s, married, of Catbalogan, Samar and whose roots are from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, disclosed Chief Insp. George Badon, chief of police of Tanjay City.
The complaint stems from the confiscation of a grenade allegedly from Bustamante’s possession, which he denied in an interview with reporters Monday morning in court. Bustamante said the grenade was “planted” by the law enforcement authorities inside his bag.
Bustamante is also known allegedly by many aliases based on identification cards recovered from his possession, to include Jose Rene H. Bustamante, Jade B. Herevias and Jury Merecido. He was arrested around 9:20 p.m. Friday on board a bus during a checkpoint in Tanjay City by joint operatives of the city police and the Philippine Army.
Army officials have identified Bustamante as the alleged secretary of the NPA’s South East Front of the Komiteng Rehiyon Negros, replacing Danilo Badayos, who was previously arrested but who died last year for a lingering illness.
Bustamante was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Gerardo Paguio of the Regional Trial Court Branch 41 for murder, dated April 30, 2014 against a certain John Doe alias Pediong and Julito Alban alias Castor.
Military and police officials later identified the John Doe alias Pediong as Bustamante, claiming that witnesses have confirmed his identity.
However, Bustamante denied this, saying he is not “Pediong” and does not have any knowledge of the murder charge in Criminal Case No. 2014-22242 in relation to the killing of the late Narciso Bantoto, Jr. in an ambush perpetrated allegedly by the NPA last Jan. 17 in Barangay Tayak, Siaton in Negros Oriental.
Bantoto, a farmer and resident of Tayak, was killed in the presence of his wife, three children and a niece while they were on their way to a benefit dance at Sitio Mainit in Barangay Tayak.
Bustamante, accompanied by his legal counsel, Joel Obar and militant human rights group KARAPATAN’s Jose Luis Blanco, was presented at the sala of Judge Paguio on Monday at the Hall of Justice in Dumaguete upon return of the warrant of arrest.
His lawyer, Joel Obar, later told reporters that he has filed in behalf of his client a motion for his release because the warrant of arrest issued by the court was questionable.
Obar explained that the warrant of arrest was not specific in naming his client, Rene Bustamante, as one of the two subjects.
He went on to explain that usually, lawyers do not object to a warrant of arrest but in this case, upon close examination of the document, he found it to be general and even described it as a “John Doe warrant” and a “mad dog warrant” that can be applied to anybody.
“To my mind, it is a general warrant. Meaning, it could be just anybody (named as respondent) and it is a very dangerous warrant”, said Obar, who introduced himself as chairman of the National Union of People’s Lawyers.
He cited the Pangandaman versus Casar case of the Supreme Court as an example of a “John Doe warrant”.
With this, Obar filed a motion to release the live body of Rene Bustamante, the hearing of which has been scheduled on Wednesday at the RTC Branch 41 of Judge Paguio.
Meanwhile, Bustamante disclosed to reporters that he was “forcefully” arrested Friday evening and brought to the police station in Tanjay City. He claimed his arrest was “unjust and undemocratic”.
He further claimed that the grenade that police “found” in his bag was “planted” to pin him down. He saw at the police station the grenade that authorities had later reported to be his.
Bustamante said he would not be a fool to be carrying around an explosive not properly wrapped and concealed. There were no witnesses nor his legal counsel when the search was conducted, he added.
Regarding the alleged subversive documents confiscated also from his possession, Bustamante said it is very easy to download these on the Internet.
For his part, Jose Luis Blanco of KARAPATAN-Negros Oriental said they are providing assistance to Bustamante and others in a similar situation as part of their advocacy in the protection of human rights.
Blanco described Bustamante’s arrest as tainted with political malice and was an unlawful arrest, similar to previous cases that KARAPATAN had also attended to.
KARAPATAN has condemned the “illegal arrest” of Bustamante and is calling for justice.
Bustamante will be transferred to the Negros Oriental Detention & Rehabilitation Center following the issuance of a commitment order on Monday, said Chief Insp. Badon.
He brushed aside the allegation of Bustamante regarding the “planting of evidence”, saying it is common for them to be hurling accusations against government authorities. (PNA/LAP/JFP)
