AN Olongapo City Court rescheduled the arraignment of a teacher who was arrested earlier this month for Twitter post offering a P50-million reward to anyone who can kill President Duterte.
The arraignment of public school teacher Ronnel Mas, originally set for Thursday, May 28, was reset to June 25 by Judge Richard Paradeza, of the Olongapo Regional Trial Court Branch 72, because Mas filed a motion to quash, according to Raymond Basilio, secretary general of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).
If the motion to quash the information is granted by the court, the case against Mas will be dismissed.
The National Bureau of Investigation has filed a complaint of inciting to sedition in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 against Mas for his tweet.
Mas, 25, was arrested on May 12 in Zambales and detained at the NBI main headquarters in Manila for a week before the court ordered his release after paying P72,000 bail.
The Department of Justice has ruled that the NBI’s warrantless arrest of Mas is “invalid” but said the defect was cured because of an interview he gave to the media, wherein he admitted posting the tweet.
The DOJ resolution also noted his apology to the President saying he did not mean him any harm when he posted the tweet.
