A CEBUANA executive of a non-governmental organization (NGO) has urged the Cebu City Police Office to take down its post about her “arrest” that labeled her as the “Top 1 most wanted person in Central Visayas,” saying that the police’s claims were false and that she will file a complaint if the post is not removed.
Anna (not her real name) said in a May 21, 2024 letter to CCPO Director Col. Ireneo Dalogdog that she is not the most wanted person in the region.
“In my entire life, I have no criminal record whatsoever,” she said in the letter, which was delivered to Dalogdog’s office on Monday, May 27.
“Your Facebook post is a blatant lie and maliciously false,” she added.
The NGO leader demanded the press release be taken down within 24 hours from receipt of her letter and “a public apology be issued and posted on the same Facebook site, otherwise, I will be constrained to take legal action.”
The letter was also furnished to the Office of the Ombudsman, National Police Commission, Commission on Human Rights, Commission on Appointments, Congress, and the Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 74.
Anna, in her letter, told Dalogdog that she still wants “to trust you are capable of rectifying this and upholding your supposed mandate of protecting human rights and upholding the rule of law and fairness.”
“I hope you are mindful of the recent Supreme Court decision declaring ‘red-tagging, vilification, labeling, and guilt by association threaten one’s life, liberty or security.’ I vowed to protect myself from all forms of malicious prosecutions,” she said.
Police’s press release
In the CCPO’s press release posted on its Facebook page last May 18, Anna’s identity was hidden. The post, written in the Cebuano language, carried a mug shot of Anna, but her face was slightly blurred.
The CCPO identified her as a businesswoman from Quezon City who was arrested last May 17 at the North Reclamation Area, Barangay Carreta, after RTC Branch 74’s issuance of a warrant of arrest for an alleged violation of Republic Act (RA) 10168, also known as the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
A similar press release, written in English, was posted on the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Facebook page on May 17.
“The arrested is currently detained at the custodial facility of CCPO for subsequent presentation to the issuing court,” reads a portion of the PRO 7 press release.
Some local news outlets carried the press release.
As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, the press releases were still on the Facebook pages of PRO 7 and the CCPO.
Rebuttal
In her letter to Dalogdog, Anna refuted the Facebook post’s claim that she is a businesswoman and was arrested on May 17 by personnel from the CCPO-Investigation and Detective Management Unit.
The NGO executive officer, who hails from Balamban, Cebu, said she voluntarily presented herself before RTC Branch 74 last May 16 to post bail, which was set at P200,000.
On the same day, the court issued an order for her release. Her bail bond stated that her voluntary surrender was to Police Staff Sgt. Norman N. Martus.
Charged
Anna was among the 27 individuals charged with violation of RA 10168 for allegedly delivering P135,000 to the NPA-South East Front in Dumaguete City in September 2012.
“I will face this case in court confident of my innocence in this fabricated charge against me and 26 others,” she said in the letter.
The taking of a mug shot is part of the booking process before an accused can post bail.
In 2023, Anna and her NGO received an award from a United Nations specialized agency for their work for indigenous peoples in the Philippines.
SunStar Cebu tried to get a statement from the CCPO through Lt. Col. Janette Rafter, but calls and text messages were not returned. / CDF