Ilocos Sur mayor ordered arrested for illegal detention

MANILA, Philippines — A town mayor in Ilocos Sur has been ordered arrested by a local court over the padlocking of a  beach resort with its operator and four-year-old son trapped inside.

A warrant of arrest was issued on Tuesday against Cabugao Mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang for the non-bailable offense of serious illegal detention and grave coercion recently filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a two-page warrant, Cabugao Regional Trial Court Branch 24 Judge Raphiel Alzate ordered the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation to arrest the mayor and 18 other accused.

The judge issued a separate warrant of arrest for the case of grave coercion against Cobangbang and the other respondents and set the bail at P36,000 for each of them.

The RTC issued the orders after upholding the finding of probable cause by the DOJ in a complaint filed by Virginia Ong. The case stemmed from the closure of the local government-owned Cabugao Beach Resort in 2017.

The DOJ granted the petition for review filed by Ong and reversed the April 23, 2018 resolution of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, which dismissed the charges for lack of probable cause.

It reinstated the original resolution issued in January last year and the findings of probable cause by investigating Senior Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Adriano Cabida, which the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office reversed upon appeal by Cobangbang.

The DOJ said the elements of serious illegal detention were present in the case.– With Artemio Dumlao