Lawyer warns on filing new case vs Ka Roger’s daughter

LUCENA CITY–With the dismissal of kidnapping and murder cases lodged against Andrea Rosal, daughter of the late New People’s Army spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, her lawyer on Monday warned the government against filing a new criminal case just to keep her in prison.

“Filing a new case against her at this point just to hold her in prison will be laughable. They should free her now,” lawyer Edre Olalia said in a phone interview.

Olalia noted that the case against Andrea was filed more than a year ago and if the authorities had another case against her client, it should already have been filed.

He said the government should stop the legal harassment against Andrea, who was arrested in Caloocan City in March 2014 based on a warrant of arrest issued in Mauban, Quezon, on charges of kidnapping and murder. She has denied the allegations.

She is also a suspected leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army which she also denied.

According to Olalia, a court in Mauban has junked the murder charges against Andrea and issued the subsequent release order on Monday morning.

Olalia said they expect that she will be freed within the day.

“Sana mahabol ang release today despite toxic traffic and phenomenal ‘aldub’,” Olalia said in a text message referring to the hot romantic comedy series on noontime TV show Eat Bulaga featuring matinee idol Alden Richards and dubsmash sensation Maine Mendoza aka “Yaya Dub,” both of them popularly known as “Aldub.”

Andrea’s other lawyer, Maria Kristina Conti, in a statement, said fellow lawyers from the National Union of People’s Lawyer and paralegal team from human rights group Karapatan were now working for her immediate release.

“There is no more legal basis or impediment to hold her in custody,” Conti said.

She lamented that Andrea was arrested while pregnant and then lost her baby daughter while in detention in part due to government neglect and adverse jail conditions. Delfin T. Mallari Jr.