Cassandra Li Ong's camp eyes filing arbitrary detention complaints

The camp of Cassandra Li Ong, one of the companions of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, on Monday said they are eyeing to file arbitrary detention complaints against authorities

Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, Ong’s lawyer, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) will “definitely” be among the respondents.

“Definitely. Kasi ang DOJ naman ang nasa ibabaw ng NBI eh. Ang NBI nga naawa ako eh (Because the NBI us under the DOJ. I pity the NBI.),” Topacio said in an ambush interview.

He, however, said they do not have specific respondents in mind yet.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) took Ong into custody last week after her return to the country, hours after she was intercepted in Batam, Indonesia with Shiela Guo, the sister of the embattled mayor.

Topacio said there was no basis for the NBI to detain Ong as there was no arrest warrant issued by a court yet.

The only arrest order against Ong was issued by the House of Representatives as she was cited in contempt for her continued failure to attend the investigation on POGO-related crimes.

“Walang warrant, walang kaso, ide-detain mo sa NBI? Sabi ko nga kung pagdating diyan tinurn over niyo sa House Sergeant-of-Arms, wala naman tayo problema diyan, eh. Wala namang kwestyon,” Topacio said.

(No warrant, no case, and you detain someone at the NBI? I even said that if they were turned over to the House Sergeant-at-Arms when they arrived, we wouldn't have a problem with that. There's no question about it.) 

“Bakit binigyan pa nila ang sarili nila ng problema (Why did they give themselves a problem)? That is arbitrary detention… when a public officer detains another without legal cause,” he added. 

He said they will “most probably” file the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman.

GMA News Online sought comment from the DOJ but has yet to receive a response as of posting time. 

For his part, NBI Director Jaime Santaigo said they only followed the process.

“Alam mo bukod sa Congress, may warrant from Congress for contempt, we arrested them without warrant and filed charges against them,” he said in a separate interview.

(You know, aside from Congress, there is an order from Congress for contempt, we arrested them without a warrant and filed charges against them.)

He also denied claims that he was pressured by higher-ups into taking Ong into custody.

“Walang ano dito, walang politikal ano dito, walang ganon. 'Yung process ay sinunod lang po namin,” he said.

(There's nothing like that here, no political bias here, nothing like that. We just followed the process.) 

NBI turned over Ong to the House of Representatives on Monday.—AOL, GMA Integrated News