Ma. Ludina Ceniza covers herself as police officers arrest her. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
A 51-year-old candidate running for a Talisay City Council seat was arrested on charges of illegal recruitment shortly after a campaign sortie in Sitio Isla Verde, Barangay San Isidro last Monday evening.
The suspect identified as Ma. Ludina Ceniza was arrested by operatives of the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) in Central Visayas. Ceniza is wanted for large scale illegal recruitment, a non-bailable offense.
Supt. George Ylanan, RSOG chief, said Ceniza, who’s allied with the camp of reelectionist Talisay City Mayor Johnny V. Delos Reyes, was already transferred from Cebu City Police Station 2 to the Cebu City jail yesterday.
Ylanan said Ceniza was arrested as she was about to board her vehicle parked a few meters from the campaign sortie site in Barangay San Isidro in Talisay City.
“We did not arrest her during the political rally out of respect for her,” Ylanan said.
The arrest warrant was issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 14 Judge Raphael Yrastorza of Cebu City last May 29, 2014.
“We are checking why the warrant issued almost a year back was not implemented by other police units. We validated it in court; the warrant is still effective,” Ylanan said.
He told reporters yesterday that it was on the fourth week of April when they secured a copy of the warrant when a court clerk handed it over to one of his operatives.
Ceniza declined media interviews.
Ceniza’s father, Primitivo Cania Jr., said the arrest was politically motivated.
Despite her arrest, Cania said the campaign will still continue especially with just days away from the May 9 elections.
Mayor delos Reyes said he believed that Ceniza’s arrest has something to do with his shift of support from the Liberal Party (LP) to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.