Alleged ex-NPA leader freed over wrongful arrest

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — A man said to be a former New People’s Army (NPA) commander, who was arrested in Cuartero, Capiz on Monday, was released yesterday.

The Kabankalan City prosecutor’s office said the statement of a witness was not enough to prove that Baltasar Saldo, 54, is the alias Virgilio Paragan, former commander of the NPA’s Roger Mahinay Command in Negros with four warrants of arrest for murder and frustrated murder.

A nephew of Paragan, who went to the prosecutor’s office when Saldo was presented on Monday night, told police that the man they arrested is not his uncle.

Lt. Col. Joem Malong, Western Visayas police spokesman, said Saldo was released after the fiscal did not sign the affidavit of the witness.