Gov’t ordered to explain ex-Maoist leader’s detention
THE SUPREME Court has ordered the government to explain the detention of a former communist leader charged with 15 counts of murder.
In a notice, the court ordered the state to bring Rodolfo C. Salas to court on March 12, when a hearing had also been set.
Jody S. Salas, his son, last month filed a habeas corpus lawsuit, asking the court to order his release.
He accused the state of violating the rights to due process of his father, whom he said had been barred from participating in the case’s preliminary probe.
Mr. Salas was arrested on Feb. 18 over murder charges filed in 2007. He was accused of being part of a communist effort to cleanse the ranks of local and regional committees of the Communist Party of the Philippines of suspected enemies.
He was being detained at the Manila City Jail and had been denied bail based on an arrest warrant issued by a Manila court.
The son said a 1991 plea bargain protects Mr. Salas from being prosecuted for common crimes to promote the communist rebellion, which became the basis of his conviction that year.
The former Maoist leader’s arrest now also violated his right against double jeopardy, which bars a person from being charged twice for the same offense, he said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
