OLONGAPO CITY — A public school teacher who was detained for eight days due to a Twitter post about a bounty on President Duterte, received a warm welcome on Tuesday (May 19) from the people who fought for his immediate release.
The Olongapo Regional Trial Court granted Ronnel Mas provisional liberty after posting a P72,000 bail. He was greeted by his family, their counsel, lawyer Dino De Leon and leaders of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines.
Mas, a 25-year-old high school teacher, was arrested by the the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for tweeting that he would give a P50-million bounty for anyone who could kill the President, in apparent support for shuttered broadcast network ABS CBN.
“This initial victory sends a powerful message that the seemingly absolute power of a repressive regime can be and will be challenged by even the most ordinary Filipinos such as Teacher Ronnel,” said Raymond Basilio, ACT Secretary General, in a statement.
Basilio said that the outpouring of support for Mas’ and massive condemnation of the government’s selective imposition of the law were crucial in advancing a democratic and just society.
Basilio asserted: “The Duterte government shall answer for their blatant disregard of Teacher Ronnel’s rights and freedoms when the NBI coerced him into admission, presented to and humiliated him in front of the press, and illegally detained him for eight days.”