By NITZ ARANCONCorrespondent
BISHOPS of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente across the country launched a campaign for detained Bishop Carlo Morales here yesterday.
Bishop Felixberto Calang of IFI Cagayan de Oro said while they launched the campaign here, their counterparts in Manila marched in protest to the Department of Justice to call for the immediate release of Morales who is still detained in an Ozamiz city jail.
“Kining atong gihimong nationwide simultaneous campaign to free Bishop Carlo Morales wala magpasabot nga atong gi-pressure ang gobyerno apan naghangyo lang kita nga ielease na si Bishop Morales kay walay may iyang sala-od nga nahimo ug nganong gi-detain (pa) man siya,” Calang explained.
Bishop Antonio Ablon of IFI-Pagadian said Morales’s lawyer Ivy Manago has already filed a motion to quash before the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Ozamiz City.
Manago, Ablon added, is asking the court to quash the charge of illegal possession of explosive that the Ozamiz City Prosecutor’s Office filed against Morales and his companion Rommel Salinas, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front.
“Naghulat pa si Bishop Morales karon sa resolution sa korte sa ilang motion to quash nga ilang gipasaka sa iyang abogado,” Ablon said.
Ablon said Morales and Salinas are still languishing inside Ozamiz city jail “together with common criminals.”
Police arrested Morales and Salinas on May 11 after their vehicle was flagged down at a checkpoint. Police claimed they were able to seize explosives from the vehicle.
However, Ablon maintained the police “planted the evidence” in Morales’s vehicle.