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Monday, February 27, 2006
Solon assures House would take care of its own
CONGRESS will take care of its members now facing charges under the national state of emergency declared by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
This was the assurance made by House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles as two of its members are now being hunted by the police with one already arrested over the weekend.
In a text message Sunday, Nograles said due process will be observed against those arrested public officials.
"The leadership will exert every effort to protect every congressman from illegal arrests. Those arrested must be charged and or released as soon as possible even in recognizance and the House will produce them to face any charges filed against them and give them the best legal assistance possible be they associated with the left, right, or the center. The Congress as an institution must protect and defend its own members," Nograles said.
Nograles's statement came about after Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran was arrested by authorities Saturday in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
Beltran's arrest was the first apprehension of an opposition legislator. Reports said Beltran was picked up on the strength of a warrant issued in relation to a sedition case filed against him "in 1985" yet.
The congressman, who was with a bodyguard, his wife, and two other companions, was flagged down in Bulacan by soldiers led by a certain Major Rene Corpuz and are now in Camp Crame for questioning by the CIDG.
Beltran's colleagues in the House questioned his arrest and the timing saying why was it done only now.
Anakpawis condemned Arroyo's declaration of a state of emergency and the subsequent arrest of Beltran saying that "martial Law is now in our midst."
"Sadly for us, among its first casualties is a former martial law victim, 73-year-old Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran," said Anakpawis vice-president for Mindanao Antonio Flores.
Military officials at Camp Crame presented to the progressive party list solon an arrest order for Crispin Beltran, on charges of inciting to rebellion.
The arrest warrant was based on charges filed during a previous charge of sedition against Beltran during the Marcos regime which was already quashed shortly after Edsa I.
The militant group said "Ka Bel's detention was a brazen attack on the civil and political rights by a fascist and power-hungry president who has lost the moral and political high ground to rule the country".
"We are reminded of the dark years of Martial Law when the blood of martyrdom flowed hounding workers and peasant leaders who were fighting against cronyism, landlessness, and fascism. The militarization and the declaration of "No Man's Land" in various areas in our country especially here in Mindanao paved the way for the concentration of lands to Marcos cronies," Flores said. (BOT)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (February 27, 2006 issue)
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