With the arrest warrants issued against former Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, former Gabriela Representative and current National Anti Poverty Commission Chair Liza Maza, former Agrarian Reform Secretary and former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano and their continued defiance, Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio has offered a total of P1-million reward money to anyone who could provide any lead to the arrest of four militant leaders with outstanding arrest warrants.
Topacio, a lawyer and legal panel chair of the Citizen’s Crime Watch (CCW), said he has moral and professional responsibility to offer rewards for the arrest of those who are wanted for justice. Thus, he offered P250,000 bounty for the capture of each of the four leftist leaders.
There is also outstanding arrest warrants issued against fellow leftists Vicente Cayetano, Delfin Pimentel and Emeterio Atalan.
For the Philippine National Police, they told to the four militant leaders with arrest warrant to just surrender to the police instead of waiting for the arrest warrant to be served against them.
As background, these former leftist lawmakers said the arrest warrants issued against them were a revival of the persecution of Makabayan bloc members of the House of Representatives who had opposed then President now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo 12 years ago.
The arrest warrants was issued by the Palayan City Regional Trial Court (RTC) two weeks ago on the double murder charges. Meanwhile Rachel Pastores, lawyer of the militant leaders said they would ask the court to reconsider its arrest order.
