Bulatlat News
Tanggol Batangan, a Batangas-based human rights group, reported the release of Jose Escobio and Junald Jabonero who were arrested last Aug. 24.
By JACINTO LINGATONG
Bulatlat.com
SANTA CRUZ, Laguna – Two individuals arrested alongside an activist were released from police custody, Sept. 3.
According to Batangas-based human rights group Tanggol Batangan, the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Batangas ordered the release of Jose Escobio, jeepney driver, and his friend Junald Jabonero.
Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Edwin M. Culla ordered the release of Escobio and Jabanero pending the investigation of the charges against them. They were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Escobio and Jabonero will undergo preliminary investigation.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor found probable cause to charge Ernesto Baez Jr., organizer of the Batangas Farmers Association (SAMBAT), of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The prosecutor recommended a P120,000 bail ($2,120) for Baez.
Escobio, Jabonero and Baez were arrested on August 24. Tanggol Batangan asserted that the evidence used by the authorities against the three were all planted in their vehicle.
“The police and military in our province repeatedly violate human rights and disrupt civilian peace. The long list of human rights violations and the misuse of laws against the people erode the trust of Filipinos in the Marcos-Duterte administration,” Tanggol Batangan said in a statement.
Read: Community organizer, driver illegally arrested in Batangas
The victims further claimed that they were taken to the bridge in barangay Buhay na Sapa, San Juan, and were coerced into admitting they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA). The police allegedly threatened them that their families would be implicated and harmed if they didn’t confess. (AMU,RVO) 
