Leftist CAR IP Group Chief Shows Up At NBI

January 24, 2021 Headlines

BAGUIO CITY (January 22, 2021) – Baguio-based indigenous peoples group Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) chairperson Windel Bolinget showed up at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)- Cordillera Thursday afternoon after apparently feeling the pressure exerted on the shoot-to-kill order issued by the Cordillera police.
Bolinget, assisted by a counsel, according to the CPA, “personally submitted to the (NBI) for security while proving his innocence from the fabricated case he is charged with.” It added that Bolinget did not surrender nor his surrender be construed as “an admission of guilt for the fabricated charge that the police filed against him.”
Tagum City Branch 30 Regional Trial Court Judge Sharon Rose Saracin on September last year ordered the arrest of Bolinget and 9 others and has not recommended any bail for their temporary freedom.
She wanted them to be brought to her sala and undergo trial for the murder of a certain Garito Tiklonay Malibato on March 22, 2018 in barangay Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte.
Bolinget allegedly conspired with nine others including Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front (CPDF) spokesperson Simon Naogsan Sr., in the killing. Cordillera police director Brig. Gen. RWin Pagkalinawan earlier issued a “shoot-to-kill” order to policemen hunting Bolinget “if he fights back while being served of his warrant”. “So (pressure of the STK order) worked to the advantage of the government,” the police official said.
Although after giving out the STK order, Pagkalinawan urged Bolinget to peacefully surrender to him while promising his safety. Negotiations between Bolinget’s camp and NBI agents were instrumental in the success of the voluntary surrender, said NBI-Cordillera regional director Hector Geologo.
Bolinget’s camp believed his submission to the NBI can provide him “full access to all legal services in challenging his case, while under NBI’s protective custody,” while challenging other “the state security forces to show the same integrity and adhere to the rule of law,” citing “lessons from the reckless acts of the Philippine National Police (PNP) these past days that made clear their intention to cause harm to Bolinget through despicable schemes like the 100,000 peso bounty.”
Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN