Senate probe sought over arrest of filmmaker in Quezon bus torching

Director Jade Castro (Photo from his Facebook account)

LUCENA CITY, Quezon City, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed on Monday a resolution urging the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to investigate the controversial arrest of film director Jade Castro and three others accused in the burning of a minibus in Catanauan, Quezon on Jan. 31.

“At any time, in any circumstance, ‘arrest now, explain later’ is wrong, as experienced by Director Jade Castro and his three companions in the town of Catanauan, Quezon,” Hontiveros said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

She said she submitted the resolution to investigate “the controversial warrantless arrest of the four,” pointing out that “warrantless arrests are limited by law to protect the rights of persons and to maintain the integrity of our legal system.”

She noted that lawyers from the Free Legal Assistance Group who visited the suspects at the Catanauan police jail “have called out the injustice with the manner of their arrest and the reported irregularities in their inquest proceedings.”

“There is a need to determine whether the operational guidelines and protocols that our law enforcers follow are sufficient and are being followed so as to not arbitrarily deprive citizens of liberty nor cast doubts when they perform their sworn duty to protect and to serve the people,” the opposition senator stressed.

Police claimed Castro and his companions — Ernesto Orcine, Noel Mariano, and Dominic Ramos were positively identified by witnesses — mainly the minibus driver and passengers — as the armed men who set the bus on fire around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 in Barangay Dahican, Catanauan.

No probable cause

The four were arrested without a warrant on Feb. 1 at a beach resort in the neighboring town of Mulanay and held at the Catanauan police jail on charges of arson.

At least two municipal officials of Mulanay had attested that the four were in their town at the time that the bus burning occurred in Catanauan.

READ: Senate probe on warrantless arrest of Director Jade Castro, companions sought

But the police stood pat on its claim that the four were positively identified during the bus burning incident.

On Monday, a preliminary hearing on the case was held at the Catanauan court. However, the lawyers of the suspects did not submit the counter-affidavits of their clients, saying there was no probable cause against their clients.

“It is for the prosecution to prove if there is probable cause to indict the four for alleged bus burning,” lawyer Michael Marpuri told reporters in a television interview in Catanauan.

In a statement on Monday, the suspects’ lawyers asserted that the four were “victims, not criminals, as the arresting police officers not only circumvented well-established laws, rules and principles but also infringed on their fundamental rights.”