Backed by a city councilor lawyer and a former governor, the country's highest-ranking New People's Army (NPA) leader, a true-bloodied Boholano who was detained at the Bohol Detention and Rehabilitation Center (BDRC), was freed late Friday afternoon by a city-based regional trial court after the rebel leader posted bail worth nearly half a million pesos for his temporary freedom, sources at the BDRC told the Bohol Sunday Post last night. With a P5.6-million bounty over his capture, Roy Erecre, the elusive leader of NPA's Komiteng Rehiyonal Sentral Bisayas (KRSB), became an instant freeman shortly before dusk fell on BDRC jail compound in Cabawan District, TagbilaranFriday.

Erecre's lawyers, City Councilor Adam Relson Jala and Atty. Victor Dela Serna, after showing the court release order reportedly signed by Regional Trial Court (RTC) executive judge Suceso Arcamo to BDRC warden, JCInsp. Jose Rusylvi Abueva, immediately whisked Erecre away, on board Jala's SUV cars, from the prison camp which had become his home since May this year. Abueva said Erecre was brought to Jala's posh house at Dao District, this city, for a dinner and reunion with the rebel leader's family. Before Erecre was arrested on May 6, 2014 in Davao City by combined elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP), the Boholano NPA commander had been groomed to lead the entire operations of the NPA in the Philippines after the March 22, 2014 arrest of Tiamzon couple created a vacuum in the NPA national leadership. Benito Tiamzon, chairman of the CPP-New People's Army (NPA), and his wife Wilma Tiamzon, CPP-NPA secretary-general, were arrested in Cebu last March 22 over standing warrants of arrest for crimes against humanity, including murder, multiple murder, and frustrated murder charges.

The sudden twist of Erecre's fate shocked both the military and the police in the province, including provincial officials. Col. Potenciano Camba, Army's Special Forces (SF) commander based in Carmen, Bohol, initially expressed disbelief over the news on Erecre's release. “I did not expect that he could post a bail,” Camba told Bohol Sunday Post in a phone interview last night. “I don't have all the details why it happened, but I hope that even with his release, he (Erecre) would still attend court hearings of his cases,” Camba said. Senior Supt. Dennis Palo Agustin, Bohol PNP commander, told the Bohol Sunday Post last night that Abueva only informed the police command about Erecre's release hours after the rebel leader had left BDRC as a free man. Agustin said he was shocked when he got a text regarding Erecre's status. “Alam na pala niya at around 5 p.m. (Friday) ang release…8:30 p.m. na niya tinext sa amin,” a puzzled Bohol PNP director said in a text message to the Bohol Sunday Post news center now located at the University of Bohol compound.

Provincial Administrator Alfonso “Ae” Damalerio in a phone interview with Bohol Sunday Post last night said he will look into the events that led to Erecre's release. Damalerio said he learned late about Erecres's posting of bail and release order. Abueva in a phone interview with Bohol Sunday Post last night said he received a court order on Erecre's release and he said he was obliged to abide with the court order, or he might be cited for contempt. The jail warden said Erecre was facing charges of rebellion and robbery in RTC courts in Bawayan City, Negros Oriental; Guihulngan, Negros Oriental; Danao City, Cebu; and two RTC branches in Bohol under Judge Arcamo and Judge Fernando Fuentes. Abueva said Erecre is expected to face murder and frustrated murder charges, which is still under preliminary investigation at the Provincial Prosecution Office. He said Erecre's lawyers were able to file a motion to post bail after prosecution (government) witnesses failed to show up during a scheduled court hearing set last Sept. 16, 2014 (Tuesday).

“I'm just following a protocol that if there is a court order releasing a detainee, I have to follow that order,” Abueva said in a phone interview last night. The warden lamented for the lack of efforts of the prosecution to bring their witnesses to court. Meanwhile, a government lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Bohol Sunday Post last night that: “City Hall has to raise a question on the propriety of Adam Jala's actions. Erecre's case is rebellion. Elected officials should not practice to defend an accused enemy of the state.” The source said Jala, who was once a third district congressman linked to PDAF scam, is also allegedly handling a handful of high-profile illegal drug cases.

TALE OF ERECRE'S ARREST IN MAY 2014

National daily news articles had reported that Erecre, alias Toto and Pasyong, was arrested by virtue of several arrest warrants at the vicinity of the Doña Vicenta Subdivision in Barangay Bajada, Davao City, on the first week of May 2014. The following arrest warrants were served during Erecre's arrest for various cases, namely: Criminal Case No. 2116, for robbery in band, issued by Judge Felina Digal-Vano of the 15th Municipal Circuit Trial Court in Bilar, Bohol, with no bail recommended, and Criminal Case No. 14-010-g for Frustrated Murder, ISSUED BY Judge Katrina Go of Branch 49, 6th Regional Trial Court in San Carlos City, Negros Oriental, with bail fixed at P200,000. Also brought in for questioning was Erecre's alleged live-in partner and companion, Judith Jaron-Niog, alias Gila, alleged secretary of the Communications Bureau of the KR-SB. Military sources said Erecre is known for his alleged involvement in several raids and ambuscades of PNP stations and military units and personnel in Central Visayas.

These include, among others, the June 11, 1999 raid of the headquarters of the PNP Regional Mobile Group, Combat Support Company and the ambush which led to the death of Lt. Que and Lt. Bungaos in Carmen, Bohol, sometime in 1999, a military report said. In a related development, records at the PNP Regional Office 7 (PRO-7) at Camp Sergio Osmeña in Cebu City show that Erecre also has other standing warrants of arrest for various cases in Negros Oriental and other parts of the Central Visayas region, said Sr. Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of the PNP's Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division. The cases include mostly rebellion charges as well as other complaints related to the insurgency movement, Lawas said, without further elaborating. Although facing several charges, Erecre is not listed among the Most Wanted Persons in the Central Visayas region. Neither does he have a reward on his head for his arrest, Lawas disclosed. Erecre was arrested by virtue of several non-bailable warrants of arrest from regional trial Courts in Cebu and Bohol for atrocities against civilians and government forces in Bohol in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Capt. Alberto Caber, the chief of the Public Information Office, Eastern Mindanao Command, said Erecre was transported to Cebu via Butuan City in the afternoon of May 7 after the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) took mug shots, fingerprinting, initial information and medical check-up were taken. Erecre has pending cases of rebellion, robbery in band and frustrated murder. “That is part of the procedure because his (standing) warrants of arrest were issued by a court in Cebu. We followed the proper disposition,” Caber said in a phone interview. Erecre has been under surveillance the past week, was arrested by virtue of the arrest warrants for a number of non-bailable criminal offenses in Bohol and Cebu in the 1990s and early 2000. He reportedly led an ambush which killed two army officers in 1990 in Carmen, Bohol. According to Caber, Erecre was cooperative during the initial investigation, although he was surprised during the arrest because he was already cornered by the military and police operatives.

Caber said a money amounting to P352,000, assorted documents and receipts, cellular phone and flash drive were taken from the possession of Erecre. Caber said Erecre may have a mission in Davao region although, military informants claimed he has been seen in a hotel and beach hopping in Davao. “He may have a mission here…the NPAs are active here. (Maybe) supporting the NPA in other provinces,” Caber said, adding that Erecre is a candidate to replace spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, who were arrested last March. Benito and Wilma are the chair and finance officer of the CPP-NPA, respectively. Erecre is the third high ranking CPP-NPA leader arrested by government troops after the Tiamzons.(with reports from the Philippine News Agency-PNA) LAM/LCMellejor/ldp