Tension grips prison over Regencia case

By Nora Soriño,
Nene Lachica
and Hermie Arcilla
of GSD-Iligan Bureau

 ILIGAN City–Supporters of detained Mayor Celso Regencia gathered again outside the City Jail in Tipanoy in an effort to stop the official’s transfer to a prison facility in at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan.

Regencia has under detention for months in connection with the Dec. 11, 2014 ambush of the convoy of former Iligan representative  Vicente Belmonte Jr. near the Laguindingan airport in Misamis Oriental.

The case was first handled by Judge Marissa Estabaya of the Regional Trial Court of Misamis Oriental Branch 44. The case was subsequently moved to the RTC Branch 77 in Quezon City in July 8.

The judge now handling the case, Ferdinand Baylon, ordered jail warden Insp. Omar Amper Jalagat to comply with the Order “to produce inmate Regencia in court.”

Chief Supt. Deogracias Tapayan, officer-in-charge of of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penlogy (BJMP) also directed Jalagat to move Regencia to the Quezon City Jail-Annex at Camp Bagong Diwa before Aug. 13 (today).

Supporters of the mayor questioned the date of transfer, pointing out that the case would be heard on Aug. 17.

Fr. Naser Zaragoza, a vocal Regencia ally, called on the mayor’s supporters to prevent the transfer. Soon, Regencia’s supporters set up road block near the Tipanoy prison facility. At presstime, the area is swarmed again by the mayor’s supporters, many of them in red.

Regencia’s lawyer Leo Zaragoza, meanwhile, claimed that supposed witnesses against Regencia have recently signed affidavits belying the declarations  that linked the mayor to murder. He did not elaborate.

One of them, Dominador Tumala, supposedly executed two affidavits–the first did not implicate the mayor but the second affidavit linked the mayor to the crime.