PNP files raps vs 6 arrested, 9 at-large during Calabarzon raids

Complaints have been filed against the six activists arrested during the simultaneous police operations in Calabarzon over the weekend, Philippine National Police chief Police General Debold Sinas said Wednesday.

Sinas added the nine people who are still at-large were also included in the complaints for illegal possession of firearms filed by the Police Regional Office 4A.

“‘Yung nandiyan sa PRO4A nagfile na po ng kaso at saka ‘yung 9 din na nakatakas ay na-file-an na din ng kaso at ‘yung namatay ay inaayos na po namin (The PRO4A has filed charges against those arrested and the nine who are still at large),” he told reporters.

On Sunday, the police regional office, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Regional Field Unit 4A, CIDG National Capital Region, Special Action Force, SAF Air Unit with the 202nd Brigade, 2ID and the Philippine Army conducted simultaneous implementation of search warrants against communist terrorists in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal area.

Nine were killed in the operation, six of which were reported in Rizal, two in Batangas, and one in Cavite.

According to PRO4A, explosives and several firearms were recovered from the target individuals.

Progressive groups have decried the deadly crackdown, saying that it comes on the heels of President Rodrigo Duterte's speech on Friday at the joint meeting of the National Task Force - Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in Northern Mindanao (NTF-RTF-ELCAC X) in Cagayan de Oro City, at which he told government forces to kill suspected rebels, without regard for human rights.

They also said that those killed and arrested are legal activists.

PNP spokesperson Police Brigadier General Ildebrandi Usana earlier maintained that the operations were legitimate and pointed out that the issuance of search warrants is as difficult as getting arrest warrants.

"There is deposition of witnesses and the examining judge has to make probing questions. Serving of warrants also requires the presence of at least 2 witnesses,” he told GMA News Online in a text message

The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to review its rule allowing the executive judges of Manila and Quezon City to issue search warrants that can be implemented nationwide.—AOL, GMA News