‘Mistaken-identity’ arrests

‘Mistaken-identity’ arrests

The AFP-PNP counterinsurgency forces have done it again: they arrested two elderly persons in Mexico, Pampanga whom they mistook for “top leaders” of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.

Arrested last Oct. 1 were Lourdes Quioc, 64, a village “hilot” (midwife), and Reynaldo Ingal, 63, a retired driver.

The Central Luzon PNP used arrest warrants issued in 2004 by Judge Victoria Villalon-Fornillos of the Bulacan RTC Branch 10. But the warrants were in the names of Eugenia Magpantay and Agaton Topacio, both allegedly members of the CPP central committee. They are charged with murder, with 70 others, in connection with an ambush by the NPA on Philippine Army soldiers in San Ildefonso, Bulacan in November 2004. The rewards for their capture combined total P10.6 million.

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