Detained CPP leader ‘re-arrested’ in Ozamiz City over 2013 case

Authorities have “implemented the warrant of arrest” against a ranking leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in Ozamiz City.

Rommel Dorango Salinas, secretary of the CPP, was arrested in May 2017 in Ozamiz City for arson, murder, frustrated murder, attempted murder, and robbery.

A regional trial court in Surigao City issued the warrant of arrest that police enforced during a court hearing on Thursday, stemming from his frustrated murder case in 2013.

Supt. Lemuel Gonda, spokesperson of the Northern Mindanao regional police, said Salinas was brought to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology at Brgy. Tinago, Ozamiz City “for proper disposition.”

Earlier, however, authorities said that a composite team of police and military arrested Salinas on Thursday at Bernard Subdivision, City Hall Drive, Brgy. Aguada, Ozamiz City, giving impression that it was a new arrest of a communist leader.

Salinas’ arrest could have come a day after the capture of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Rafael Baylosis in Quezon City.

READ: NDF consultant arrested – Karapatan

But an NDFP legal consultant said that the government sent out a “misleading” information regarding Salinas.

“NDF consultant Rommel Salinas was already arrested way back May 11, 2017 and is still in detention,” lawyer Edre Olalia said in a statement.

As the Northern Mindanao police said they have implemented the warrant of arrest of Salinas on Thursday in Ozamiz City for his frustrated murder case, Olalia said: “There is one catch though: the warrant was already served last May 2017. This fact is mentioned in the affidavit of arrest last year.”

Olalia criticized authorities for distributing a police report, “giving the wrong impression” on Salinas, to the media. He branded it as “false and a cheap propaganda stunt to sow terror and confusion.”

“This proves again the danger of just swallowing hook, line, and sinker claims of the police and the military,” Olalia said.                        /kga