NDFP Consultant
released from jail
By KATUNGOD-SB-KARAPATAN
July
28, 2011
TACLOBAN CITY – Last
July 25, 2011 at around
4:00 in the afternoon, National Democratic Front of the
Philippines consultant
Jaime Soledad was released from the Leyte Provincial Jail after
exactly 40 months of detention.
It can be recalled
that Soledad was arrested on a Maundy Thursday, March 25, 2008 after
being served with a Warrant of Arrest with the name of Satur Ocampo on
the document at Bacoor Cavite.
The release was made
after both the Prosecutors of Hilongos and
Manila
filed a Motion to Drop Jaime Soledad as one of the accused in the
alleged mass grave unearthed in Inopacan, Leyte. Said Motion was
granted by both judges in the Regional Trial Courts of Hilongos and
Manila resulting to the issuance of the order of release of
Soledad.
The release order was
issued on July 22, 2011 but the release was only made on July 25, 2011
for reasons that July 23 and 24 is a Saturday and Sunday respectively
and on the next office day (July 25) the release was delayed because
of the alleged “protocol process” that the Province of Leyte had to
approve the same; contrary to the customary process wherein a copy of
the release order would warrant immediate release of the detainee.
The filing of the
Motion was due to the ongoing Peace Talks between the Government of
the Philippines (GPH) and National Democratic Front of the Philippines
(NDFP). The release of the NDFP Consultants is a commitment of the GPH
and at the same a demand of the NDFP for reasons that the arrest of
these consultants is a violation of the GPH of the Joint Agreement on
Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) both signed and agreed upon by
the parties in 1995 which gives safety and immunity guarantees to the
consultants of both panel: the GPH and the NDFP.
