Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, acting chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, on Saturday defended the arrest of a ranking official of the progressive group Gabriela for illegal possession of firearms during simultaneous raids in Bacolod and Manila Thursday evening.
Sinas said Cora Agovida and her partner Michael Bartolome were nabbed in Manila’s Paco district for illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives.
“What our Manila Police District knew was they were arrested for mere violations of firearms and explosives. We only learned of her links to Gabriela because the group staged a rally in front of the MPD, claiming that one of the suspects is their secretary or so,” he said.
“So we tasked our Intel Unit to coordinate with our allied units to check their background. We don’t have complete details yet if they are registered members or what. What the MPD did is just to implement the approved warrants,” Sinas added.
Gabriela identified Agovida as its Manila chapter chairperson and regional spokesperson.
Aside from Agovida and Bartolome, other progressive leaders who were among the 55 nabbed during last week’s raids were Kilusang Mayo Uno Negros leader Noly Rosales and National Federation of Sugar Workers secretary-general John Milton Lozande.
The Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives has condemned the simultaneous raids, saying these were “a possible prelude to an intensified crackdown to cut down or eliminate progressives and critics of the Duterte regime.”
“At the same time this would provide a big diversionary tactic from the issues besieging Duterte like high prices of commodities, corruption in the PNP, failure of the bogus drug war, water interruptions, the mass transportation crisis, massive traffic jams and underemployment,” Makabayan said in a statement.
But a spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division denied accusations that the military planted evidence against the arrested individuals.
Capt. Cenon Pancito III said the raids conducted in offices of progressive groups in Bacolod that led to the recovery of a cache of firearms, ammunition, and explosives were the result of detailed intelligence work.
“With the voluminous war materiel that we got, it would be very impossible for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to produce all these that we have recovered,” Pancito said.
“This is a product of thorough intelligence operations. [The information]did not just come from one source. We actually have various sources,” he added.
The warrants were issued for violation of Republic Act No. 1059 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Law by Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of the Regional Trial Court Branch 89 in Quezon City.
Pancito said among those who provided information were former New People’s Army members and mass supporters who surrendered in Escalante City in September.
“If those arrested would allege that it was a frame-up, they have the right to challenge us in a proper court and we are willing to face them,” he said.