Solons in House custody still face arrest--Gonzalez

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=68205

Solons in House custody still face arrest--Gonzalez
First posted 05:38pm (Mla time) Mar 03, 2006
By Tetch Torres
INQ7.net

DESPITE the lifting of the state of emergency, party-list lawmakers who are charged with rebellion and presently holed up at the House of Representatives are still facing arrest, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Friday.

"They still cannot go out [because] they are still charged," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said the rebellion case against party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo (Bayan Muna), Crispin Beltran (Anakpawis), Rafael Mariano (Anakpawis), Teodoro Casiño (Bayan Muna), Liza Maza (Gabriela), and Joel Virador (Bayan Muna) would stay.

A preliminary investigation has been set at the Department of Justice.

The five party-list lawmakers have asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to give a categorical statement on their plight, saying that while she lifted the state of emergency, she was silent on the issue of the pending warrantless arrests and rebel charges that were filed against them.