Philippines politician to face murder charges
Philippine police have detained a left-wing politician so he can face 22-year-old murder charges, despite a judge’s order delaying a transfer until the Supreme Court rules on his arrest.
Satur Ocampo was arrested last week after 10 days in hiding when he went to the Supreme Court to question the charges against him. He resisted attempts by police to move him from Manila to Leyte.
Ocampo’s lawyer, Neri Colmenares, said he worried about the safety of his client in Leyte, where a local court issued a warrant for the politician’s arrest for allegedly ordering the killings of suspected government spies by communist rebels.
Ocampo, a former communist rebel before he was elected to Congress, denied the charges, saying he had been in military detention under former dictator Ferdinand Marcos when the alleged killings took place.
The 67-year-old was seen being shoved into a van that took him from a Manila police station to the airport early today.
After several hours of talks, Leyte Judge Ephrem Abando granted Ocampo’s motion to keep him in Manila until the Supreme Court hears his petition on Friday.
But despite the order, police took Ocampo to an aircraft and flew him to Leyte. Officials said they did not receive a copy of the court’s order.
“We are just doing what we have to do under the law,” said national police chief Oscar Calderon, explaining that today was the deadline for police to submit Ocampo to the court.
He promised to return Ocampo to Manila in time for the Supreme Court’s hearing on Friday.
Ocampo claims the murder charges against him were trumped up as part of a crackdown on left-wing activists.
Authorities last year dug up the remains of at least 15 people who were allegedly killed by communist rebels in May and June 1985 during a bloody purge that claimed thousands of lives.
