MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) has urged Bayan Muna (People First) Representative Satur Ocampo to surrender after a regional trial court issued a warrant for his arrest on murder charges.

"Being a legislator, we expect him to subscribe to judicial authorities," PNP spokesman, Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao, told reporters Thursday.

Ocampo said he would ?surface eventually and voluntarily? and his lawyers said the leftist legislator would not flee and would surrender ?in a matter of days? to face the issue.

?He [Ocampo] will give himself up in a matter of days. He will just have to make some adjustments,? Romeo Capulong told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

Ocampo said he would not allow himself to be arrested and held like Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran who was arrested early last year and was now more than a year in detention.

"The government should not waste its resources in trying to arrest me. I will surface eventually and voluntarily,? he said. ?Meanwhile, Bayan Muna's campaign continues nationwide."

Neri Colmenares, who is also a Bayan Muna nominee in the May party-list elections, said he would advise Ocampo ?if, there is a warrant, to abide by the decision of the court and we will challenge it judicially.?

?Hindi naman siya nagtatago [He is not hiding]. I don't think he's in hiding,? Capulong said.

In fact, Ocampo held a press conference this Thursday in Quezon City, according to Bayan Muna.

"I am innocent of these invented charges. My right to due process was violated by the prosecutor and the judge who ignored seven solid bases for trashing the case. I will avail myself of legal remedies to correct this injustice against me," a Bayan Muna statement quoted the solon as saying.

At the press conference Ocampo flashed a tabloid headlined "Arrest Satur!" and said "a fair hearing will find me innocent."

Colmenares added that Ocampo ?will face the issue, he will not flee.?

Pagdilao made the appeal for Ocampo to surrender after the PNP received the warrant issued Wednesday by Executive Judge Ephrem Abando of the Regional Trial Court Branch 18 of Hilongos, Leyte against Ocampo, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison and 52 others.

"This warrant of arrest is a lawful order from the court that the PNP is mandated to serve as a part of our normal law enforcement function," Pagdilao said.

Ocampo, Sison and the other accused were indicted on 15 counts of murder supposedly committed in the course of an internal purge within the ranks of the New People's Army, armed wing of the CPP, Pagdilao said.

The remains of the alleged purge victims were dug up from what authorities claim is an NPA ?killing field? in Sitio (sub-village) Sapang Daco, Barangay (village) Kaulisihan, Inopacan town, Leyte last August.

Pagdilao said Ocampo could not invoke immunity as a member of Congress because "we all know that the immunity does not extend to cases like these?like murder."

"We want to assure [Ocampo] he will be given the best protection the PNP can extend. He will have to submit himself to authority of the court," he added.

Aside from the place of detention, Capulong said they also wanted to make sure that there would be no security problems when Ocampo turns himself in to the authorities.

?Maraming [There are a lot of] security problems. Mahirap mag-trust sa [It?s difficult to trust the] military o [or] police. Hindi mo alam kung ano yung [You do not know the] mode of arrest,? the lawyer said.

?Baka palitawin na nagkaroon ng untoward incident. Uso pa naman ang extrajudicial killings. Baka naman hulihin siya tapos gawing incommunicado o kaya naman ay torturin siya so we have to take the necessary security measures [They might make it appear that there was an untoward incident. Extrajudicial killings are the order of the day. He might get arrested and then made incommunicado or maybe torture him so we have to take the necessary security measures],? he said.

Next week, Capulong said they would file a petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court to question the issuance of the arrest warrant.

He said the court had committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction on several grounds.

First, the pieces of evidence were all fabricated, and the supposed crime took place more than 20 years ago, said Capulong.

Capulong said the case was also part of the pending rebellion charges filed against Ocampo and that this could not be the subject of a separate case.

He said they also questioned the prosecutor's filing of the case against Ocampo without furnishing a copy of the resolution to the respondent and his co-accused.

?Clearly, the case was railroaded and the judge did not do his duty but merely followed the position of the public prosecution,? Capulong said.

Colmenares said the murder charges and the warrant of arrest against Ocampo were part of what he described as a government plot to weaken Bayan Muna ahead of the May polls.

?The way we look at this, they [government] saw Bayan Muna was top in the surveys, with 16 percent in the recent Pulse Asia survey, way ahead of the next ranking party-list,? Colmenares said. ?So now they are looking at physical restraint.?

He acknowledged that Ocampo ?won?t be able to campaign if he is imprisoned? and denied bail.

Nevertheless, Colmenares said, ?the legal case was very weak? that ?even a third-year law student would win it.?

He pointed out that the crime Ocampo is accused of ?supposedly happened in 1984, which is more than 20 years ago, the prescription period for murder. And at the same time, Satur was in prison. Thus, this case should not have prospered at all.?

?But because they issued that [warrant], Satur will face the issue, he will not flee.?

"I was arrested on Jan. 14, 1976 and was under military custody until May 5, 1985. This renders impossible the claim that I was in Leyte in 1984 to supervise the purported purge," said Ocampo.

As to the claim that he went back to Leyte in 1991, "that is also impossible because I was arrested anew in 1989 and was detained until 1992. I cannot be in detention while at the same time appear from thin air in Leyte."

Colmenares said they would cite the Hernandez doctrine when they question the warrant before the Supreme Court.

?The Hernandez doctrine, which the Supreme Court has upheld, holds that rebellion absorbs all other crimes. And there is a rebellion case already filed against the Batasan 6,? the group of leftist lawmakers to which Ocampo belongs who were charged for their alleged participation in a supposed coup plot February last year.

Thus, he said, the murder case against Ocampo should have been filed before the Makati trial court where the rebellion charges are being heard because the alleged killings were ?committed in the course of rebellion.?

"In a way, the false charges are an attack on the freedom of thought and the party-list system. Malacañang wants to control the party-list elections, and that includes ensuring that we lose, by hook or by crook," said Ocampo. "This is a serious assault on the right of the marginalized and underrepresented sectors to elect their representatives."

Ocampo said that "Malacañang, the National Security Adviser, the Department of Justice, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the entire machinery of government are now combining to pin me down and to crush Bayan Muna."

Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano called the arrest warrant against Ocampo government?s ?dirtiest political maneuver? against party-list groups and warned it could trigger the ?eruption of the country's already boiling social volcano.?

?The warrant of arrest against Ka Satur is Ms. [Gloria Macapagal-] Arroyo and the military's dirtiest political maneuver, next to the political killings, in their desperate attempt to eliminate progressive party-lists in the May polls,? Mariano said in a statement.

He also called on Filipinos to remain vigilant against the government?s ?physical attacks against its most vocal critics.?

?Ms. Arroyo's intensifying dictatorship could trigger the eruption of the country's social volcano even before or after the elections,? he said. ?We will never hesitate to defy and challenge the Arroyo dictatorship in the parliament of the streets.?