Red Tagging? Inhumane arrest? Warrantless arrest? – NO, proper protocols and procedures were maintained and followed by the law enforcement authorities in arresting Dr. Maria Natividad Castro, alias Dok, and there is a specific crime (serious illegal detention and kidnapping) that was the cause of the warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Allegedly, Castro was involved in the felonious kidnapping of a member of the Civilian Active Auxiliary (CAA), detained the victim in an unidentified location, and threatened him on Dec. 29, 2018, in Barangay Kolambungan, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur.
Thus, her arrest was part of the intensified campaign against wanted persons and was accorded properly with her rights. The case files against her underwent preliminary investigation where the respondent can rebut the prosecution’s finding of probable cause to charge her of kidnapping. The judge also saw the probable cause and the arrest warrant was legitimately issued. A clear evidence that there was nothing wrong or illegal in her arrest.
During her arrest, she was brought to Quirino Hospital for a medical checkup as per protocol and was visited by CHR (Commission of Human Rights) representatives the following day. Again, city and municipal health doctors conducted another medical checkup on her request followed by her lawyer and sisters who arrived and talked to her. A clear picture that she was cared for just as the others.
Meanwhile, Dr. Castro also has been identified as an active member, recruiter, trainer and fundraiser of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF). This was confirmed by former CPP-NPA-NDF member Gleceria Balangiao, liaison officer of the Rural Missionary of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Region, during a virtual press briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). A clear statement that there was no case of red-tagging.
Hence, the Philippine National Police was just performing their duties as agents of the court, they were just doing their jobs. That, the basis of Castro’s arrest by the PNP is a judicially issued warrant based on the criminal charges against her and not because she is the head of the National Health Bureau of the CPP-NPA-NDF which has been declared a terrorist organization by the Anti-Terrorism Council, the US, EU, and other countries. A clear manifestation that there was no illegal, inhumane and a case of red-tagging on the implementation of the said arrest.
Further, Castro is now in the custody of the court and is currently detained at the Bayugan City Police Station where her lawyers can visit her to prepare for her defense and which she will be entitled to every legal remedy available in her defense.
Source: Philippine News Agency
