Chopper takes captured mutineer to Fort Bonifacio

Oakwood fugitive Army 1st Lt. Lawrence San Juan was taken to Fort Bonifacio following his arrest at a check point in Batangas City by joint military and police operatives early Tuesday morning. San Juan was flown from Camp Miguel Malvar in Padre Garcia, Batangas City and would be brought directly to the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio where he would be detained under tight security, GMA News reported. San Juan was arrested, along with two others, during an early morning joint operation of the military and the police after attending a meeting allegedly with local leaders of the New People’s Army at a farm in Barangay Bokal in San Felipe, Padre Garcia. The fugitive’s companions were identified as lawyer Jose Christopher Belmonte and a certain Alberto Buyal. Belmonte is reported to be facing charges himself over his alleged links with communist leader Rudy dela Cruz in the late 1990s. Lieutenant Col. Laur Chris Tumanda, group commander of the 74th Command Group, said San Juan and his companions initially tried to give the operatives the run-around but were subsequently arrested when they passed through a check point in San Felipe. The group was aboard a white Mitsubishi Adventure when they were blocked by military men manning the checkpoint. San Juan did not resist arrest, GMA News reported. PNP chief Director Gen. Arturo Lomibao said vital pieces of evidence were recovered from San Juan’s get-away vehicle and would be used against the Magdalo rebel officer. Among the evidence reportedly recovered from the vehicle a flag with the Magdalo mark and documents allegedly detailing CPP-NPA anti-government plans and operations. San Juan’s companions are now detained in Batangas City and would be charged before the Provincial Prosecutors Office for, among others, harboring a fugitive. San Juan, along with Captain Nathaniel Rabonza, and 1st Lts. Patricio Bumidang Jr. and Sonny Sarmiento, who escaped with San Juan from a high-security detention facility in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, last January 17.-GMANEWS.TV