PHILIPPINES: WIFE AND AID OF COMMUNIST REBEL LEADER RODOLFO SALAS ARE FREED FROM JAIL.

Record ID: 500629

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: WIFE AND AID OF COMMUNIST REBEL LEADER RODOLFO SALAS ARE FREED FROM JAIL.
  • Date: 15th October 1986
  • Summary: 1. GV & SV EXTERIOR Supreme Court building and court sign (2 shots) 0.10 2. GVs Armed guards and police outside court room and armoured security van (4 shots) 0.27 3. SVs INTERIOR People being searched in court building and armed men standing guard (2 shots) 0.32 4. GV INTERIOR Court room 0.34 5. GVs Salas entering court room and waving to people (2 shots) 0.47 6. SV Salas speaking to reporters with his wife Josefine sitting next to him 1.00 7. SVs Photographers taking pictures of Salas with his wife, mother and son, Jody (2 shots) 1.07 8. GV Judges walking into court and the court being called into session 1.39 9. SV Solicitor General Ordonez speaking and Sala's lawyer Capulong speaking (ENGLISH SOT) 1.54 10. CU PAN FROM Stenographer's hands to his face (OVERLAID BY CHIEF JUSTICE CLAUDRO TEEHANKEE SPEAKING) (ENGLISH SOT) 1.59 11. SV & PAN Capulong consulting Salas and going back to podium to address judge (ENGLISH SOT) 2.17 12. SV PULL BACK TO Judge adjourning session 2.23 13. SV Salas surrounded by reporters 2.25 14. SVs Concepcion leaving court and Sala's wife being helped into security vehicle which leaves with armed escort (3 shots) 2.40 15. SV & SV PAN Sala's mother leaving court and being surrounded by people with banners (2 shots) 2.49 TRANSCRIPT: (SEQ. NINE): ORDONEZ: "We have no objections to the immediate release of these petitioners." CAPULONG: "We make the manifestation right now, your honour, that the two accused who will be released immediately today will submit to the jurisdiction of the court subject to all the remedies that are available to them." TRANSCRIPT: (SEQ. 10): TEEHANKEE: "Will you have your clients confirm that now?" CAPULONG: "Yes, your honour." TEEHANKEE: "Please do so." TRANSCRIPT: (SEQ. 11): CAPULONG: "Under my oath as a member of the bar, your honour, I have confirmed these facts with my client and they are willing to submit to the jurisdiction of the court to be present all stages of the proceedings, when their presence are required." InitialsMK/BB Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th October 1986 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA77TOCMIZZUVIT66IFBYTX2NFZ
  • Story Text: MANILA, PHILIPPINES

    The wife and aid of Rodolfo Salas, the alleged chairman of the outlawed communist party, were released from custody after a hearing conducted amid tight security at the Supreme Court in Manila on October 14. Armed guards patrolled the building as Rodolfo's wife, Josefina Cruz and his driver Jose Concepcion were freed when defence lawyers agreed to drop demands for Rodolfo's release from jail. Solicitor General Sedfrey Ordonez told the court the two freed rebels, captured along with Rodolfo by military agents on September 29, would continue to face rebellion charges. Defence lawyer Romeo Capulong said he would guarantee the appearance of the pair at future Romeo Capulong said he would guarantee the appearance of the pair at future hearings and in return for their release, dropped demands for Salas to be freed also. Rodolfo, alleged to be the founder of the communist rebel New People's Army (NPA), was arrested with his wife and Concepcion outside a hospital in the Philippine capital, and charged with rebellion three days later on October 2. The charges carry a maximum penalty of death. The arrest of Salas, who had a 250,000 peso (12,500 United States dollar) price on his head for his capture dead or alive, was condemned by lawyers representing the rebels as a severe setback to peace talks aimed at ending the 17-year guerrilla war in the Philippines. Solicitors for the National Democratic Front (NDF), a left-wing coalition that represents the NPA in peace talks, had demanded the release of all three rebels so that talks with Philippine President Corazon Aquino resume. Sala's counsel challenged the detention of the three on the grounds that they were immune from arrest because at the time they were captured they had been acting as envoys in peace talks with the government. Security around the court building was tight as some 300 spectators packed into the gallery for the hearing on October 14. Armed guards stood outside the building and searched people entering the court room. The release of Cruz and Concepcion was seen as an effort to revive peace talks which had been suspended since the arrests. But Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile said after the hearing the military would raise strong objections if the three were freed without being charged, as a government move to save the peace talks.

    <strong>Source: REUTERS - MANUEL SILVA</strong>
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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