A Quezon City court has ordered the release from jail of a paralegal team member of militant group Anakpawis after he was arrested and detained since last week for obstruction of justice.
Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 43 Executive Judge Don Ace Mariano Alagar ordered the Quezon City Police District's (QCPD) investigation unit on Tuesday (Aug. 18) to free Paolo Colabres after he posted P36,000 bail.
The court said Colabres should be released, "provided, however, that there exist no other case/s to the effect that he remain" under police custody and "upon compliance with quarantine protocol with the assistance of the city health office."
In the early morning of Aug. 11, Colabres was arrested by police for trying to claim from a funeral parlor the cadaver of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randy Echanis, who was killed inside his rented apartment in Novaliches a day before.
Police accused him of pretending to be Echanis' relative, although reporters who were with him at the time said in a Viber exchange with QCPD that Colabres identified himself as a paralegal and was wearing an ID.