Authorities arrested former Rep. Satur Ocampo and incumbent ACT Party-list congressman France Castro and 19 others for allegedly transporting 14 minors under questionable circumstances in Davao del Norte Wednesday.
In a statement, Sr. Supt. Ferlu Silvio, acting provincial director of Davao del Norte said Ocampo, Castro along with 19 individuals were stopped at a checkpoint in Purok 1, Brgy. Sto Nino, Talaingod, Davao del Norte at 9 pm.
He said Ocampo’s entourage were in five vans in the company of 14 minors and heading to Maco, Compostela Valley when they were intercepted by policeman and soldiers from the 56th Infantry Brigade in Sition Igang, Brgy. Palma Gil.
Silvio said the five-vehicle convoy was flagged down at the checkpoint after they received information that a group of people were emerging from a remote area in Talaingod, a known New People’s Army-infested area.
Chief Insp. Jason Baria, spokesman of Police Regional Office-11 said the rescued minors were 14 to 17 of age.
Capt. Erick Wymer Calulot, spokesperson of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade said the 14 minors came from different parts of Mindanao and were there without the knowledge of their respective guardians.
Calulot hinted that the minors were to be employed in an anti-paramilitary protest today during the observance of Bonifacio Day in Davao province.
Of the 19 individuals arrested in Ocampo and Castro’s entourage 10 were teachers from the Salugpongan Community Learning Center; two staff members of the ACT Party-list; four clergymen from Davao and an Administrator of the Salugpongan Learning Center.
Hours following their arrest, Ocampo, Castro and their 19 companions were charged by the Talaingod PNP for violating Republic Act 7610 or “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.”
Shortly after the arrest of Ocampo, Calulot said tribal leaders in Talaingod condemned the act of Ocampo’s group and stormed the PNP station where the group is held and demanded that the former leave the area and not take their children.
Mayor Basilio Libayao of Talaingod municipality has passed a resolution declaring their condemnation of any group’s activities and presence in their municipality, Calulot said in a statement.
The 14 minors are under the care of the municipal Department of Social Welfare and Development office in Talaingod town.
In an earlier interview with GMA-7, Ocampo said a Lumad school in Davao del Norte was shut down by a paramilitary group after the military suspected it of being infiltrated by the NPA.
In an interview on “Dobol B sa News TV, Ocampo said the military had accused communists rebels of recruiting new members from the Lumad school and indoctrinating the students.
Rep. Antonio Tinio of the ACT Teachers Party-List denounced the arrests.
Tinio said Castro, Ocampo and the 72 others were on a solidarity mission to support the students and teachers of a school in a tribal area in Talaingod town, that was closed down by troops from the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion.
“I denounce the ongoing detention of my fellow ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and 72 others by the Philippine National Police in Talaingod,
Davao del Norte. Representative Castro, Ka Satur, and the others took part in a solidarity mission to support a the students and teachers of lumad school that had been forcibly shut down by the 56th Infantry Battalion,” he said.
“Last night [Wednesday night], while stopped at a military road block, the solidarity mission convoy was attacked by men believed to be members of the paramilitary group known as Alamara. The tires of
some of their vehicles were spiked, the windshield of the van ridden by Rep. Castro and Ka Satur was broken, and gunshots were fired in their vicinity.
“Instead of going after the attackers, the police brought the mission participants to the Talaingod police station, where they are being held up to now. Trumped up charges of human trafficking and child abuse are being prepared against them.”
Tinio demanded the immediate release of those detained specially Castro, since Congress is still in session and she is entitled to legislative immunity, and the septuagenarian Ocampo.
