Ramil Tucay, a resident of Baler, Aurora, who was reported by the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division to have been arrested in possession of gun, bullets and explosives, said no document to warrant his arrest was presented to him until he was brought at the police custodial center here.
“Dinukot ako sa isang komunidad ng mga manggagawang bukid sa Carranglan,” Tucay said, claiming he was in the area to help in organizing the farmers in their fight against the proliferation of combine rice harvesters which displaced agricultural workers. He denied possession of guns and explosives.
“Sa aktuwal, ang nakuha sa akin ay mga sako, mga paint brush at saka mga pintura na gagamitin noon sa mga gagawing streamer,” he added.
He said he was doing what University of the Philippines (UP) graduate Gerald Salonga and Guiller Cadano were trying to accomplish when they were arrested in 2014 in the same town also by combined police and military forces.
In the Salonga-Cadano cases, authorities said the police were to implement an arrest warrant against someone who managed to escape.
“Nung dinala na ‘ko sa police station at ako’y kinakausap ng mga tauhan ng 56th IB, eh sa kapikunan nila sa aking mga paliwanag ay idinaan nila sa pananakit para mapigilan akong magsalita,” Tucay alleged.
But 1Lt. Catherine Hapin of the 7ID public information office said Tucay’s medical certificate “would bear out the truth.”
Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra, officer-in-charge of the Nueve Ecija police provincial office, said Tucay has a pending arrest warrant for homicide issued by the Regional Trial Court of Baler, Aurora.
The police, Yarra said, is filing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosive, which is not bailable, against Tucay before bringing him back to the Baler court.
