By Roy Lagarde
Jesuit Fr. Albert Alejo. PHOTO FROM THE VARSITARIAN/ARIANNE MAYE D.G. VIRI
A Jesuit priest sued for sedition is now facing new charges, together with three other individuals including a nun.
Police filed kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges against Fr. Albert Alejo, a certain Canossian Sister Ling, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and lawyer Jude Sabio.
Authorities said the case was based on the complaint of a certain Guillermina Barrido alias Guillermina Arcillas from Davao del Norte.
Barrido claimed she was detained for 14 days in two convents in 2016 and was being forced to sign a “ready-made” affidavit linking President Duterte to narcotics and a death squad.
The charges were filed by the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group unit before the Department of Justice on Aug. 15.
“It is clear from the foregoing that herein respondents feloniously, maliciously, and intentionally put the complainant under detention for 14 days in order to force her to do something against her will,” the complaint read.
Kidnapping and serious illegal detention are non-bailable offenses.
In July, Fr. Alejo was also among those implicated in the sedition and other criminal charges filed against high profile personalities, including Vice President Leni Robredo, some bishops and priests.
The complaint was also lodged by the CIDG over a supposed conspiracy to spread videos of the hooded whistleblower “Bikoy” linking Duterte and his family to illegal drugs.