3 MIN READ

By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Makabayan Senatorial bet Neri Colmenares, on his Twitter account, condemned the police for arresting Agnes Mesina, the party-lists coalition’s regional coordinator in Cagayan Valley, using an already invalid arrest warrant.  

“It is impossible for the PNP not to have known about the dismissal of such a case that they have worked on for so long,” Colmenares said.

“As such, I view this illegal arrest as an act of harassment and intimidation against the political opposition. It comes as no surprise that this happened in the so-called “Solid North”, the much-vaunted bastion of the Marcoses,” he added. 

Police arrested Mesina around 7:00 PM on February 28 over a dismissed murder case in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. She was having dinner at an eatery in Aparri, Cagayan when police officers accosted her using a warrant from the dismissed trumped-up charge. 

She was released at around 11:30 PM after her lawyer presented a copy of the court order dismissing the murder charges. 

In 2021, Branch 30 of the Regional Trial Court in Tagum City cleared Mesina, along with Cagayan Valley activists Jackie Valencia and Reynaldo Garneng, and Cordillera Peoples Alliance Chairperson Windel Bolinget of murder charges. 

Judge Sharon Rose Saracin of RTC Branch 30, in her July 12, 2021 order, dismissed the murder charges against Mesina, Valencia, Garneng, Bolinget, and two other accused “for lack of probable cause.” She also recalled the warrant issued on September 25, 2020.

Mesina, in a phone interview on March 1, said her arrest was unlawful. 

“They arrested me, in the middle of the campaign, in front of so many people for a trumped-up charge that was already dismissed by the courts; they made me look like a criminal, which I am not, that is not right,” she said.

Mesina added she was arrested in 2012 also on false charges while gearing towards the election campaign period at the time. She recalled that they had just concluded a teacher consultation, the first of its kind in Tuguegarao, introducing ACT Teachers Partylist. She said that she was talking to Rep. Antonio Tinio at a coffee shop when she was taken by the police.

She was arrested then for a frustrated murder charge which was also later dismissed.

Counter charges

Mesina said they are exploring possibilities of filing charges against the police. “This (filing of charges) is not just as defense, but also for others who have been in the same situation,” she said. 

She stressed that police officials failed to do their job in verifying the validity of the arrest warrant against her. 

Moreover, she called on the Department of Justice to disseminate the dismissal of the charges filed against her. 

“They (police) said they were just following orders, so does this mean I have to go around to inform everyone that the charges against me were already dismissed? I am the victim here, they filed false charges against me, and these were already dismissed,” she said. 

Mesina thanked the people who helped hastened her release. “I thank the lawyers, fellow activists and the media for their help, with your help I was released before midnight,” she said. 

Nordis contacted Aparri police chief PCapt. Tristan John Zambale for his comments, but has not received a reply as of press time. 

Aid blockade

Karapatan on its official Twitter account asserted that Mesina was illegally arrested “to further block and intimidate the team from reaching the community in Gonzaga, Cagayan”.

Barangay officials from other towns and unidentified individuals barred a church-led humanitarian mission from reaching the remote village of Sta. Clara in Gonzaga, Cagayan province on the morning before her arrest. Aparri is an hour away from Gonzaga by car.

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines, human rights group Karapatan Cagayan Valley, and National Capital Region-based support group Taripnong Cagayan Valley led the group composed of 56 individuals. Mesina was part of the group.

They were supposed to deliver relief and provide psychosocial services to the residents affected by the government’s aerial bombing from January 29 to February 4.

Jhames Paredes, a Karapatan paralegal, said some 30 individuals blocked the road going to Sta. Clara. They told them to back off and reschedule their activity with no clear explanation as to why they were not allowed to pass. The group also hung streamers red-tagging Mesina and Anakpawis Party-list 4th Nominee Isabelo Adviento.

Some participants of the mission from the farmers’ group Danggayan ti Mannalon ti Cagayan were able to identify those leading the barricade. They identified the individuals as Barangay Captain Ariel Madriaga of Dafungay, Amulong; Cagayan Alliance for Peace and Development organizer Mauricio Aguinaldo; and Kagawad Pacencia Mercado of Asinga Via, Baggao. # nordis.net