Bro. Eddie decries murder raps vs son

Bro. Eduardo "Eddie" Villanueva of the Jesus is Lord Movement and Bangon Pilipinas Movement denounced yesterday the filing of murder charges against his son Eduardo "Jon-jon" Jr. as an obvious case of political harassment directed at him for being a vocal critic of the Arroyo administration.

"In the name of the Lord, I appeal to the administration to stop all these political harassment and political killings. Not for the sake of my family but for the sake of my countrymen. Give democracy a chance," Villanueva said in a press conference at the office of the family-owned Zoe Broadcasting Network in Ortigas, Pasig City,

Present during the press briefing were Villanueva’s wife Dory, his son CIBAC party-list Rep. Joel Villanueva, and daughters Joni and Jovy.

The other day, 11 soldiers of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division filed murder and frustrated murder charges against Jon-jon Villanueva, together with one Francisco Villa and a number of John Does, with the Department of Justice over an alleged shootout in Bocaue, Bulacan last May 4 that left Cpl. Leonardo Pataray dead.

The soldiers claimed that Villanueva, who is running for Bocaue mayor, was the one who ordered Villa and his other followers to open fire at them.

The soldiers denied having provoked the incident, saying they were just passing through Barangay Bunlo in Bocaue from an operation in Hagonoy town when they were fired at.

The elder Villanueva said it was Jon-jon who should have filed attempted murder charges against the Army soldiers.

"As everyone of you know by now, by the grace of God, my son Jon-Jon escaped physical harm. However, another kind of harm is on the way," he said, referring to the soldiers’ charges which he described as "concocted."

"I believe that audacious (and) unwarranted filing of charges (is) pure harassment directed obviously at me," he said.

"Like many other leaders opposing injustices and widespread graft and corruption in this administration, I have been subjected to numerous incidents of harassment. Now they are directing it at my son," he said.

For his part, Rep. Villanueva questioned the police investigation into the incident and claimed that the soldiers’ accusation that it was his brother and his supporters who started the shootout defied logic.

"No man, not even a child, in his right mind would do such a thing as wait for a group of soldiers and gun them down in an ambush in your family compound," he said.