MANILA, Philippines -- Police arrested a lawyer of the leftist labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) in his Antipolo City office Thursday night on non-bailable multiple murder and frustrated murder charges filed against him before an Occidental Mindoro trial court.

Chief Superintendent Ricardo Padilla, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) regional police chief, confirmed that lawyer Remigio Saladero Jr. was arrested Thursday night by joint operatives of the Calabarzon and Rizal provincial police.

He also confirmed that Padilla has been brought to Occidental Mindoro for turn over to the court.

KMU members and other activists had trooped to Cam Vicente Lim in Laguna Thursday night to protest the arrest.

The KMU slammed the arrest of the lawyer and claimed the police had arrested the wrong person.

It also claimed the arrest was part of efforts to “cover up” the scandal surrounding the apprehension of a retired police general found carrying millions of pesos worth of undeclared currency by Russian customs officials in Moscow earlier this month.

Padilla said the arrest of Saladero was based on a valid warrant of arrest. “We don’t want to violate any human rights,” he said.

But KMU chairman Elmer Labog said the police had arrested the wrong person, pointing out that the warrant of arrest was against someone named Reme Gio Saladero. “The spelling of the name was different. His [Saladero’s] name was misspelled. At isa pa, hindi naman nagpupunta ng Mindoro yan [Besides, he never goes to Mindoro in the first place],” he said.

Labog also said the arresting officers seized Saladero’s laptop and personal computers.

He said the lawyer, who is in his 50s, is “sickly” and suffers from hypertension and diabetes.

Padilla said the KMU should address its complaints to the Mindoro trial court.

“Kami naman, hindi naman namin sinasabi na masamang tao siya, inutusan lang kami eh [to arrest Saladero]. Kung may reklamo sila [KMU], i-explain nila sa court, huwag sa amin [On our part, we are not saying he is a bad person, we were just ordered. If they have any complaints, they should explain that to the court, not to us],” he said.