Army surrenders Kapunan to NBI

Ret. Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo “Red” Kapunan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Philippine Army on Thursday turned over custody of retired Air Force Col. Eduardo “Red” Kapunan Jr. to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to finally comply with an order it had earlier defied and which could have the command slapped with a contempt charge by a civilian court.

Army spokesperson Maj. Harold Cabunoc said the Army’s legal officer, Alex Popanes, personally turned Kapunan over to Arnold Lazaro, chief of the NBI Security Management Division, at 3:20 p.m. at the NBI Custodial Center in Manila.

Judge Ma. Consejo-Gengos Ignalaga of the Antipolo Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued on Wednesday a resolution granting the motion for reconsideration filed by Kapunan’s lawyers.

Jail transfer postponement

Kapunan, who surrendered to the Philippine Army on Oct. 6, was to be transferred to the Rizal Provincial Jail on Tuesday but this was postponed after the Army received a copy of the motion.

Lawyer Julius Mila, Antipolo Regional Trial Court Branch 98 clerk, said in a phone interview the NBI had earlier opposed Kapunan’s transfer to their custody but later withdrew its opposition.

Kapunan reportedly suffers from hypertension and edema, among other ailments, that must be monitored.

Cabunoc said the transfer was based on the commitment order issued by Ignalaga.

He said the Army would also comply with the judge’s order for an explanation on why the Army should not be held in contempt for defying her order to transfer Kapunan to the Rizal Provincial Jail which is under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

“That’s part of the procedure so we must comply. The legal officer will submit the explanation letter upon receipt of the order from the court requiring him to explain,” Cabunoc said.

He added that Popanes will write the explanation but it was “worth noting [that] until (11:30 a.m.), we have not received a written order from the court.”

Cabunoc on Tuesday said the Army did not deliver Kapunan to the Rizal Provincial Jail because it had received a copy of a motion for reconsideration filed by Kapunan’s lawyer asking the court to stop his transfer to a civilian detention facility that could not meet his medical needs.

NBI taking custody

At the hearing on Wednesday, the NBI representative confirmed to Ignalaga that the agency could take in Kapunan at its detention facility.

Kapunan is one of 13 accused in the murder of labor leader Rolando Olalia and the latter’s driver, Leonor Alay-ay, 26 years ago. The two were abducted and their mutilated bodies were found in Antipolo on Nov. 13, 1986.

The double murder was allegedly part of the “God Save the Queen” coup plot against then President Corazon Aquino by members of the right-wing Reform the Armed Forces Movement. Kapunan was an acknowledged leader of RAM. With a report from Rima Granali