Mistaken identity victims run to CA vs wrongful arrest

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Relatives of two elderly persons arrested in Mexico town in Pampanga on Oct. 1 have gone to the Court of Appeals to seek their release after the police and military arrested them and accused them of being top communist leaders in a case that those arrested said was one of mistaken identity.

They had been charged with the killing of six soldiers in Bulacan in 2004.

Alipio Quioc and Mary Ann Ingal asked the CA to issue a writ of habeas corpus ordering Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Central Luzon police director; Senior Supt. David Allauigan, regional intelligence chief; policeman Roman Punzalan; and the Bulacan provincial jail warden to produce and release their relatives, Lourdes Quioc and Reynaldo Ingal.

The petition, filed on Oct. 13, said Lourdes Quioc and Reynaldo Ingal were not Eugenia Magpantay and Agaton Topacio, contrary to the claims of the police and military.

Magpantay and Topacio are among 72 people, including Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, who were charged with 14 counts of murder for the 2004 killing of six Army soldiers in an ambush in Bulacan.

The warrant for their arrest was issued by Judge Victoria Parnilles of the Regional Trial Court Branch 10 in the City of Malolos in 2004.

Petrasanta said police served the arrest warrant and did not claim a reward of P10 million for the arrest of Magpantay and Agaton.

Lawyers of the relatives of Quioc and Ingal took the case to the CA after a court in Pampanga lost jurisdiction following their transfer to Bulacan provincial jail.

Pampanga Board Member Teddy Tumang and Pampanga Rep. Oscar Rodriguez told Central Luzon police chief Petrasanta that Quioc and Ingal were “innocent civilians.”

Lawyers also submitted to the CA documents establishing the identities of Quioc and Ingal, both residents of Barangay Tinajero in Mexico. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon