NBI hunts down Ilocos mayor charged with illegal detention

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been tapped to hunt down a town mayor in Ilocos Sur who was ordered arrested over the padlocking of a government-owned resort with its operator and four-year-old son trapped inside.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said NBI agents have joined the manhunt for Cabugao Mayor Josh Edward Cobangbang after the Ilocos Sur police failed to serve a warrant of arrest for serious illegal detention and grave coercion.

“The NBI has tapped... agents to arrest Mayor Cobangbang pursuant to the warrant issued by the RTC,” Guevarra said, referring to the order of Cabugao Regional Trial Court Branch 24 Judge Raphiel Alzate.

Guevarra said prosecutors would also seek the issuance of a hold departure order against Cobangbang.

As this developed, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) appointed Vice Mayor Deogracias Jose Victorino Savellano as acting mayor of Cabugao.

The DILG regional office said Cobangbang is “temporarily incapacitated” to perform the responsibilities of a town mayor in view of the charges he is facing.

Cobangbang and 18 others were ordered arrested after the court upheld the finding of probable cause by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the complaint filed by resort operator Virginia Ong.

The DOJ granted the petition for review that Ong filed and reversed the April 23, 2018 resolution of the provincial prosecutor’s office that dismissed the charges for lack of probable cause.

The elements of serious illegal detention were present in the case, noting that a private individual was detained by a public official without lawful basis, according to the DOJ.

Ong, her son and some of her employees were forced to stay in the padlocked resort until their lawyer and the police arrived the following day.

The court said the offense is non-bailable.

Prior to the incident, Cobangbang demanded that Ong and her employees leave the resort. Ong refused, saying her lease contract is until 2025.