Warden seeks transfer of accused Red leader

Concha confers with counsel Janne Baterna of the National
Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) inside her detention
cell, actually a portion of the office of the warden.

KALIBO, AKLAN

August 30, 2015

This is one of the rare incidents where both the State and accused joined together at the hearing here August 28 (2015) in opposing a third party motion to transfer the detention of Panay Red leader Concha Araneta-Bocala.

Atty. Dogelio, warden of the Aklan BJMP jail in this town, have moved for the transfer of Araneta to the Iloilo Provincial Integrated Jail, a facility under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. He told the court, “we could no longer guarantee her safety”.

Concha flanked by two female guards at her
arraignment

At the pre-marking of exhibits at the chamber. Defense and State
panels facing each other. Tension at the court already subsided
and the parties are now trading humor.

His facility has only 28-strong personnel including office workers and could only station four guards per shift while others are on escort duty (mostly taking detainees to court) in the jail designed for only 50 inmates but currently is home to 278.

“Iloilo PJMP is bigger and has a floor area of five hectares,” Dogelio told the court referring to the facility constructed by Iloilo Province on a 15-ha. rice land.

Some of Concha's  counsels and para-legals

The public prosecutor objected because the Iloilo jail was very far which could delay the proceedings. On the other hand, Atty. Janne Baterna, head of the defense panel, cited the frail health of Araneta-Bocala which forbids her to undergo the rigors of long travels. Pototan town is over 200 kilometers from Kalibo.

The defense panel comprises members of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) and volunteers from the Aklan local of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) led by its incoming president Yenyen Ibadlit.

Like hot potato.

The defense proposed instead that a “preferred detention” is the Aklan Rehabilitation Center  (ARC)  but the prosecution hesitated to back it up stating that “since the jail is funded and managed” by the Aklan provincial government, it must “first be consulted.”

The management of the ARC was unavailable and had only the lowest ranked jail guard on hand escorting a detainee who said that their jail was also congested.

BJMP warden Atty. Dogelio echoed the provincial guard and added that the wall of the ARC was “lower” than that of the BJMP.

The two State prosecutors (left) and defense lead, Atty.
Janne Baterna of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers
(NUPL)

The picture taken by this writer of the wall of the ARC however showed that though lower than the BJMP's, the ARC concrete wall was about 10 feet high and reinforced by a three-feet barb wire. Still, the ARC is 60 times bigger than the BJMP jail and inmates in the former are allowed to build their own “bahay kubo” to decongest the formitories.

The court said it will rule on the motion to transfer detention before the next hearing in September.

Privileged status?

The Aklan BJMP currently confines Araneta at a portion of its office, separated from the rest of the inmates who face common crimes charges, to be more precise, “high profile crimes” or celebrated cases in drug trafficking and syndicated murders and robberies. Just beside it and separated only by another high wall is the Aklan Rehabilitation Center (ARC) keeping over 300 inmates.

Picture time: after the marking of exhibits, more light
moment: Concha poses with the president of the Aklan IBP and
volunteer counsel Atty. Yenyen Ibadlit (seated left) and the clerk of
court (seated right) who later handed to me her CP to take her pictures.

Though her room is air conditioned, Araneta-Bocala says she is “uncomfortable with it.” The cold triggers her back pains and breathing difficulty. She wants instead a regular cell alongside fellow detainees.

Araneta-Bocala, arrested August 1 in Molo, Iloilo City, was whisked off to Kalibo sans knowledge of her family and friends, where she faced a murder charge filed in court 1981. The case dated back to 1975 when the crime was allegedly committed by suspected NPA guerillas. Her co-accused Ruben Saluta was earlier acquitted (in 2000) by the same court for lack of witnesses.

The ARC all (right) and the BJMP's
at the center, at the tip of the ARC wall.  

The military had also charged her for another murder in Sebaste, Antique in the '80s but no document on that was available at the RTC of Antique. The warrant of arrest was issued by the municipal court acting as inquest officer. The revised Rules of Court already stripped municipal court the task of conducting inquest or preliminary jurisdiction. The defense considers the warrant of arrest “invalidated by the new rules”.

She further faces a rebellion case in Antique filed in 1998 although her co-accused Ruben Saluta and Eldie Labinghasa have been acquitted of it circa 2000 yet for lack of evidence.

BJMP's Atty. Dogelio cited another reason for moving to transfer Araneta-Bocala from his custody to the Iloilo BJMP: she also face illegal possession of firearms and explosive filed by arresting officers before the RTC in Iloilo City.

The ARC all (right) and the BJMP's 
at the center, at the tip of the ARC wall.  

Illegal possesion of explosive is unbailable but the defense argues that the hand grenade and firearms that her accusers declared have been found in her rented house, are “planted” in the course of the search, which is “illegal” and therefore, inadmissible in evidence.