NDFP consultant accuses jailer of contempt of court

Rafael Baylosis. Contributed photo by Pinoy Weekly

A consultant for communist rebels in the peace talks with the government is seeking a contempt citation against his custodian for refusing to release him from detention despite a court order.

Rafael Baylosis, who was arrested in January for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, accused Jail Chief Insp. Jojie Jonathan Pangan of ignoring a June 8 court order for his release.

Pangan is the warden for Jail 4 in the Metro Manila District Jail where Baylosis has been detained since his arrest.

Baylosis, who said the charges against him were trumped up, is one of the consultants for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and a member of the rebel peace panel’s ceasefire committee.

He was ordered released by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 100 on a P150,000 bail so he could participate in the resumption of formal talks originally scheduled for June 28-30 in Oslo, Norway.

The talks, however, had been postponed for three months by the government.

His lawyer, Rachel Pastores, said his continued detention tested the government’s sincerity in negotiating a peaceful deal to end the longest-running insurgency in Asia.

Baylosis was among the six senior communist party leaders allowed by three Metro Manila courts to travel abroad for the talks.

The others are alleged Communist Party of the Philippines chair Benito Tiamzon, Adelberto Silva, Vicente Ladlad, Randall Echanis and Alan Jazmines.

Pastores said Pangan refused to release the 68-year-old on flimsy grounds, such as the warden’s allegation that National Bureau of Investigation records still showed Baylosis had other cases.

But Pastores said all of these had been either settled or dismissed.

“The release order is still valid and existing. He has no warrant of arrest in any other case. So there’s no reason for [Pangan] to disobey the release order,” Pastores said.

“His continued, unreasonable refusal to implement it is a contemptuous act which not only violates Baylosis’ rights. It clearly shows disdain of the court which must be punished,” she said in a statement.

Pangan’s refusal to release Baylosis is “improper conduct tending to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice, is disobedience to a lawful order, and tantamount to disrespect” of the court, Pastores said.