CA orders government to produce NDF consultant Principe

MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals (CA) ordered yesterday the government to present before it military and police officers who arrested National Democratic Front (NDF) consultant Elizabeth Principe.

Government lawyer Magtanggol Castro failed to disclose in yesterday’s writ of amparo hearing the identities of those who arrested Principe last Nov. 28 on  P. Tuazon Street, Cubao, Quezon City.

“This is a writ of amparo. We need to know if a right has been violated when the arrest was made,” Associate Justice Jose Sabio Jr. said.

In its return of the writ, the Philippine National Police said Principe was arrested by a joint unit from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The CA also asked the PNP to return Principe, currently detained at the PNP-CIDG Custodial Center, in the next hearing on Feb. 14.

The petition for a writ of amparo was filed last month by Lorena Santos, Principe’s 25-year-old daughter, to compel the PNP to produce her mother in court.

Santos, in a separate petition for the writ of habeas corpus, also asked the court to direct the police and the military “to produce in court her father,” Leo Velasco, another NDF consultant who has been reported missing since Feb. 19, 2007.

During the first hearing of the petition for the writs of habeas corpus and amparo for Principe and Velasco, Principe was not brought to the court, prompting Justice Sabio to order the PNP to produce Principe for yesterday’s writ of amparo hearing.

The military and police maintained yesterday that the arrest of Principe late last year was covered by a warrant.

“I believe Principe was arrested on the strength of several warrants of arrest and being detained by the Philippine National Police. Nonetheless, when the court speaks we abide,” Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said on bringing Principe to court during hearings.

Aside from a number of pending charges filed against the NDF officer in several courts in Cagayan Valley, Principe and several key CPP-New People’s Army personalities are also being linked to the failed Nov. 29, 2007 Peninsula Manila Hotel standoff in Makati City.

But Principe herself and the Communist Party of the Philippines-NDF leadership denied the allegation.

Principe claimed that she was not arrested, but was abducted by police and military agents.

“I was abducted by the military last 28th  of November after undergoing a check-up at the Fern Laboratory in Quezon City, and not in a shopping mall as maliciously peddled by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” she said in a statement sent to a television station.

She also alleged that she was held incommunicado and interrogated inside the Intelligence Service Group at the Philippine Army Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio without the benefit of a counsel.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano and PNP Deputy Chief for Administration Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa presented Principe to the media in a press briefing at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig on Dec. 1, 2007.

“We believe that she might be in Manila for a very important mission which is the purpose of our investigation.... right now the Magdalo group is under investigation and Principe is also under interrogation,” Yano said.

Army and police records showed that Principe was arrested on the basis of six warrants of arrests for robbery, murder, homicide, and arson cases in Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya.   – With  Jaime Laude