5 party-list congressmen face arrest if they leave Batasan

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol assured the leadership of the House of Representatives yesterday that he would not implement a pending arrest order on five militant lawmakers out of respect for the legislative body.

However, in an interview for the weekly radio program of Vice President Noli De Castro, Querol said he would still serve the arrest warrant for the five lawmakers and apprehend them once they leave the premises of the House.

Querol pointed out that the five lawmakers — Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, Teddy Casiño, Joel Virador and Rafael Mariano — had been charged with rebellion even before they became House members.

Since rebellion is a continuing offense, Querol said the police still had a duty to arrest the five lawmakers for the charges they faced.

"They (the five congressmen) are involved in rebellion, that is a continuing crime. Kung sila ay lalabas ng Kongreso, maaari silang madampot. May banta talaga po yan dahil ang kaso nila are rebellion (If they get out of the House, they will be arrested since they are accused of the continuing crime of rebellion)," he said.

Querol stressed they had not carried out the arrest on the "Batasan Five" out of respect for the halls of Congress.

He noted though that House leaders gave assurances that the five House members would remain holed up within the Batasan premises.

For his part, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said during De Castro’s radio program that the five House members had asked for protective custody from the House leadership.

"It is a continuing offense. The Supreme Court said that if one rebel is arrested or voluntarily submits himself to the custody of anybody he is not considered having surrendered but having been captured and therefore they are candidates for warrantless arrest," Gonzales explained.

Despite President Arroyo’s lifting of Proclamation 1017 or the state of national emergency last Friday, Querol said the police would still continue conducting checkpoints because of the threat by communist rebels to launch tactical offensives.

Querol, meanwhile, took the opportunity to clarify that there was no concrete basis to link the explosions at the Ortigas Commercial Center and near the office of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in Pasig City to the tense political situation in the country.

He said the initial investigation indicated no explosives were used but only crude pillbox devices.

"There is no concrete basis linking it to politics but it happened before the lifting of the state of national emergency was announced," Querol said.

Querol said the explosions would not have been sufficient reason for Mrs. Arroyo to delay lifting Proclamation 1017.