Rebel detainee moved to CPDRC

RAMON Patriarca, who is facing rebellion charges, will stay in the isolation cell of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) until Monday.

This will give time for the military to find a suitable stockade for him.

Capitol consultant on security Cesar Veloso said Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia gave the go signal to temporarily keep Patriarca at the provincial jail after the Central Command said it could not t immediately accommodate Patriarca at their headquarters.

Centcom spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Tampus said their detention facility had been converted into an armory.

RTC Judge Sylvia Aguirre-Paderanga ordered Patriarca’s transfer from the Danao city jail to the military facility. However, Tampus said Centcom asked the court for a 10-day extension.

The military considers Patriarca a rebel leader as the taxation and finance bureau officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.

Patriarca was moved to the CPDRC on Wednesday.

The human rights alliance Karapatan objected to the sudden transfer as “irregular” and said he should not be in a military stockade.

“Even Patriarca was not informed of his impending transfer. He was not even given a chance to pack his personal belongings by himself,” said the group in a press statement.

Patriarca is facing a rebellion case at the Regional Trial Court Branch 25 in Danao City. He attended a court hearing of a case that he filed against the police at the Palace of Justice in Cebu City last Wednesday but was not returned to the Danao City jail, where authorities said he had become an influential figure among fellow inmates. Patriarca said he would go on hunger strike to protest the transfer. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus