TEMPORARY FREEDOM | Activist Jennifer Awingan is accompanied by her husband, Ronald Taggao, as she walks out of the Abra provincial jail on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance)
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — A court in Abra province on Tuesday granted the petition for bail of indigenous peoples’ rights activist Jennifer Awingan, who was jailed last month for alleged rebellion, authorities said.
Lawyer Reynaldo Cortes, one of Awingan’s counsels, said Judge Corpuz Alzate of the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 in Bangued town allowed his client to post P100,000 bail.
Awingan, a native of Kalinga province and a researcher for the Baguio City-based Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), was released after posting bail on Tuesday afternoon with the help of relatives and supporters.
In an interview, Cortes said a similar petition for bail would be filed for the six other activists who were charged along with Awingan but remained at large. Initially, the court did not recommend bail for the accused.
Alzate ordered the arrest of the seven activists and two others on Jan. 24. Baguio policemen arrested Awingan in this city on Jan. 30 and detained her initially at a local facility before transferring her to the Abra provincial jail.
According to Cortes, Awingan and the other activists were charged with rebellion for allegedly being members and not leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines, making the case bailable.
He said he was hoping that the court would also allow the six other activists to post bail “considering that they are facing the same case.”
Exclusion
Cortes said a separate petition to exclude the activists from the rebellion case was filed on Feb. 2, and the court gave the prosecution 15 days to comment on the motion.
The seven activists were accused of being involved in the ambush of four Army soldiers in Malibcong, Abra on Oct. 27 last year.
Two of the government soldiers were killed in the attack, which the military said was carried out by communist rebels while the victims were on their way to assist earthquake victims in Abra.
The case was filed by two surviving soldiers, Privates First Class Reymond Galo and Randy Cinco of the 24th Infantry Battalion (IB) under the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, and relatives of the slain soldiers.
Galo and Cinco identified suspected NPA rebels Jovensio Tangbawan and Salcedo Dumayom Dappay Jr. as the assailants, who were also named in the same rebellion charge.
But it was Staff Sgt. Christopher Druja, intelligence officer of the Bravo Company of the 24th IB who named the seven activists as members of the New People’s Army unit that ambushed the soldiers, court documents showed.
In his resolution on Jan. 3, Deputy Provincial Prosecutor Gerardo Tagura said the alleged rebellion was committed in an attempt to “overthrow the government,” describing the seven activists as “superiors” of the rebels who attacked the soldiers.
Apart from Awingan, also accused of rebellion were Windel Bolinget and Steve Tauli, CPA chair and regional council member, respectively; development worker Sarah Abellon; advocate for farmers Lourdes Gimenez; Florence Kang of the Ilocos Center for Research, Empowerment and Development; and Niño Oconer, a correspondent for the online news portal Northern Dispatch.