NDF consultant’s wife set free as fiscal finds charges ‘preposterous’

SAN PEDRO CITY – Peace advocate Patricia Cora Casambre, wife of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Rey Casambre, was released from detention on Tuesday afternoon, after the city prosecutor found the allegation against the couple “preposterous.”

Her husband, however, had to stay at the detention facility of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region since he is facing separate charges of murder and attempted murder in Davao Oriental.

Johnny Umpong, city prosecutor of Bacoor City, Cavite, ordered Cora’s release pending the conduct of the preliminary investigation into the case of illegal possession of explosives filed against the couple.

The police, during the inquest on Saturday, said they found hand grenade, .45 caliber pistol, laptop, and electrical cord inside the dashboard compartment of the couple’s car when they were arrested in Bacoor City, Cavite past midnight on Friday.

But Umpong said “this preposterous allegation of complaints must be further investigated…”

“(T)he alleged objects cannot fit inside the said dashboard compartment considering that Toyota Vios has a small dashboard compartment where only a small iPad can be accommodated,” he noted in his resolution, a copy of which was provided by the couple’s counsel from the Public Interest Law Center.

Rey was the fourth NDFP consultant arrested this year as peace negotiations between the government and Communist Party of the Philippines collapsed. /kga