CITIZEN'S ARREST: COME AND GET ME, FVR TELLS DETRACTORS
MANILA, November 24, 2005 (STAR) By Rainier Allan Ronda - Former President Fidel Ramos laughed off the reported move to place him under citizen’s arrest along with President Arroyo and Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for alleged treason."Will you tell them to arrest me at 120 Maria Cristina (street), Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa City? I’ll be available for arrest for 15 days," Ramos joked at a news conference held at the Dignitaries Lounge of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal I late Tuesday.
He said any group interested in enforcing the citizen’s arrest could find him at his office at the Urban Bank building in Makati City.
"I’ll be happy to be arrested there also," he told reporters after stepping off a Cathay Pacific Airways plane from China where he attended a series of international conferences.
Ramos directed the challenge to Linda Montayre, leader of the newly formed People’s Coalition for National Salvation (PCNS), who threatened to place the three political leaders under citizen’s arrest for alleged treason.
Ramos said Montayre’s group should first review the legal procedures involved in carrying out a citizen’s arrest.
Stressing that he is already a private citizen, the former chief executive explained that under the law, a person who is the subject of a citizens’ arrest should have firsthand knowledge or involvement in a crime that has just been committed or is about to be committed.
Ramos claimed PCNS is obviously connected to the group of his former defense chief Fortunato Abat who spearheaded the holding of a "Second Malolos Congress" last Nov. 18.
Ramos said he was invited but decided against attending the gathering, which was meant to evoke the Malolos Congress of 1899 that drafted the country’s first constitution.
"First they enticed me to join them and then they put out a citizen’s arrest warrant against me," Ramos noted.
"Maybe I committed treason because I didn’t attend their Second Malolos Congress," he added.
Ramos went on to describe the Second Malolos Congress as "a fiasco" with only Abat’s small group involved in the supposed people’s action.
Ramos also described the Malolos gathering as a "poor copy" of the people’s court formed and now headed by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr.
Guingona heads the Citizens’ Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA) that is holding a mock trial of Mrs. Arroyo for election fraud and other crimes.
Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes also downplayed the threat of Montayre’s group to carry out a citizen’s arrest.
"We would not want to dignify all those statements with a response," Reyes said.
Reyes and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao said the citizen’s arrest could only be invoked under very specific circumstances. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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