BREAKING NEWS: Philippines Frees Detained Protestant Pastor (UPDATE)

In a ruling, the Court made clear there was no evidence that United Church of Christ in the Philippines Pastor Berlin Guerrero, had murdered a police officer in 1991 in the province of Cavite. Associate Justice Martin Villarama said in published remarks that, "We cannot find any probable cause to warrant the issuance of an arrest warrant," against the pastor.

The Court said the pastor would be placed under custody of former Senate President Jovito Salonga and Emil Capulong, a lawyer, who defended him. “Although we are still awaiting for the final resolution, today’s decision is proof that the charges filed against me have no basis at all," Pastor Guerrero said in a statement.

Lawyer Capulong said the decision was a first step towards the dismissal of the case.  "Although the case is not yet over, we are seeing light in our struggle for justice,”he told reporters.

 

 

Human rights investigators and American churches supporting his case claim the pastor was abducted in front of his wife and children by Naval Intelligence and Security operatives on May 27, 2007. He had since been held at the Cavite provincial jail in Trece Martires, allegedly on what rights groups and church leaders have described as “trumped up” charges.

The pastor has said that he was tortured in a safe house and initially accused of being an officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). After the alleged mistreatment, Guerrero said, he was brought to the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Camp Pantaleon Garcia in Imus, Cavite, where he was told he had been detained for murdering Noli Yatco.

On June 14, 2007, the Protestant Lawyers’ League of the Philippines a regional court to release Guerrero, citing a lack of evidence, but that motion was denied on August 2, last year, news reports said. Soon after, Salonga and Guerrero’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to intervene, which eventually lead Thursday’s ruling by the Court of Appeals.