Baligod, 4 ‘maleta boys’ post bail after arrest for unjust vexation

MANILA, Philippines — Levito Baligod and four of the so-called “Maleta boys” posted bail on Friday night after the lawyer and his 14 clients were arrested in San Juan City on Friday morning for “unjust vexation.”

San Juan City Police Chief Police Col. Anthony Gantang said the confessed bagmen were arrested along with their lawyer at around 9:30 a.m. while they were at the Hall of Justice in San Juan City attending a separate hearing.

Gantang said the Sept. 23 arrest warrant issued by Zambales Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 69 was in connection with unjust vexation charges based on the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10175).

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READ: Baligod, 14 ‘maleta boys’ arrested over ‘unjust vexation’ case

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Police, however, had no further information on who filed the charges. National Capital Region Police Office spokesperson Maj. Hazel Asilo said police only had an arrest warrant and no copy of the case information.

But in July, the Department of Justice filed cyberlibel charges against Baligod and his clients before the San Juan City RTC and three other trial courts in Metro Manila, following their allegations that they delivered P805 billion in alleged kickbacks from anomalous flood-control projects to various politicians and personalities.

The confessed bagmen have been named Maleta boys because of the alleged cash payouts they claimed to deliver in suitcases.

Gantang said the San Juan court set bail at P10,000 each.

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“For now, as long as there is no release order, they will remain here in the custody of the San Juan City Police Station until the court issues one,” the police chief said earlier, adding there was “no need to present [them] before the Zambales court.”

“There will be coordination anyway between the court in Zambales and the one here in San Juan City. The case is not too serious,” Gantang said. “We do that when we have cases from other regions, other provinces.”

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Under the Rules of Criminal Procedure, arrest warrants issued by Regional Trial Courts and Municipal Trial Courts are enforceable nationwide, allowing law enforcement officers to serve them outside the jurisdiction where they were issued.

Baligod and his clients made their first public appearance in February this year, as he introduced a group of 18 individuals at first, whom he identified as bagmen for resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co.