Joint elements of  the police and military arrested Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Camarines Sur chairperson Nelsy Rodriguez inside the group’s office in Bagum­bayan, Naga City in the evening of September 6.

A female agent disguised herself as a barangay health worker to enter the office. She was followed by eight policemen in plainclothes who presented the arrest warrant against Rodriguez which was based on trumped-up charges of murder. She was then brought to the town of Labo where she was presented before the court. She is the third mass leader to have been unjustly arrested in Bicol.

In Panay, Bayan-Panay secretary general Elmer Forro was also slapped with trumped-up murder and frustrated murder charges last September 5. The military maliciously accused him of involvement in an ambush by Red fighters against the 301st IBde in Lam­bunao, Iloilo on April 7.

Meanwhile, Kadamay members filed a criminal case of robbery and gross misconduct against the chief of the PNP-Central Luzon and 11 other police officers based in Pandi, Bulacan. The case was related to the arbitrary confiscation of Pinoy Weekly magazines by police officers at the office of Kadamay in July. Earlier, Kadamay members trooped to the Quezon City Hall to express their plight amid the lockdown.