4 ex-solons urged: yield

Malacañang on Tuesday, July 31, urged National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Liza Maza and three other left-leaning former lawmakers to surrender and prove their innocence.

Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. called on Maza and other former lawmakers Rafael Mariano, Satur Ocampo, and Teodoro Casiño to heed the arrest orders against them.

“Well, of course, those warrants of arrest are lawfully-issued by a trial court--if I’m not mistaken --in Nueva Ecija,” Roque said.

“So if they’re innocent, then they should in fact surrender, recognize the jurisdiction of the court, and prove their innocence in court. That’s what we expect from everyone,” he added.

Judge Evelyn Turla of Nueva Ecija, Palayan City Regional Trial Court Branch 40 issued arrest warrants against Maza, Mariano, Ocampo, and Casiño over their alleged involvement in the abduction-killing of Danilo Felipe, Jimmy Peralta, and Carlito Bayudang in 2001, 2003, and 2004, respectively.

Felipe, Peralta, and Bayudang were alleged supporters of rival party-list Akbayan.

Maza, the incumbent NAPC head, is a former Gabriela party-list representative, while Mariano served as former Anakpawis party-list representative and former Agrarian Reform Secretary.

Ocampo and Casiño, on the other hand, are former Bayan Muna party-list representatives.

Makabayan lawmakers have claimed that the warrants of arrest against the four former lawmakers were the Duterte government’s apparent “attacks against the opposition.”