Retired Air Force Col. Eduardo Kapunan, one of the principal suspects in the killing of Kilusang Mayo Uno labor leader Rolando Olalia, who surrendered Friday to the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Capiz, is now under the custody of the Army’s Intelligence Security Group in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Kapunan, a key leader of the Reform the Armed forces Movement, was escorted and presented during the weekend to Army chief Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, after being subjected to a medical check-up.

Bautista said Kapunan told him that he has a pending arrest warrant.

On Feb. 3, a regional trial court in Antipolo, Rizal province issued arrest warrants for Kapunan and 12 other RAM members, for the murder of Olalia and his driver, Leonor Alay-ay, in 1986, Army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said.

The arraignment has been scheduled on Oct. 17.

Kapunan and Colonel-turned-Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan were among the RAM leaders who led the 1989 failed coup attempt, that took place during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino.

Cabunoc said Kapunan,who was diagnosed to be suffering from hypertension, had undergone a triple heart bypass, in previous years.

Kapunan is facing a double murder case, in connection with kidnapping and killing of Olalia and his driver, on Nov. 13, 1986.

However Carlos Conde, Manila-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the case was typical of the government's failure swiftly to hold to account military officials or other powerful figures accused of crimes.

“Mr. Kapunan has friends in high places, that’s a fact," Conde told AFP. “Let's keep in mind that he was not arrested -- he surrendered.”

He urged the military swiftly to turn Kapunan over to the court and for the government to do more to find and detain the other Olalia murder suspects.

“The (government) has an opportunity here to demonstrate that it could break this impunity and communicate to members of the military who are implicated in abuses that they will be held accountable for their action," he added.

Loretta Rosales, head of the government's Human Rights Commission, also said Kapunan may have been "coddled" by powerful figures. Rosales said Olalia and his driver were kidnapped and murdered as Kapunan and other right-wing officers jostled for power after helping remove Ferdinand Marcos in a "People Power" revolution that year.

The military killed many left-wing figures during the Marcos dictatorship, and this pattern continued in the aftermath of the revolution, according to rights groups.*GPB/AFP

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