Speaker Jose de Venecia sought the transfer of the preliminary investigation to the House of Representatives which has been holding the five party-list solons in custody for two weeks now.

Apparently acknowledging the security problems that might arise in bringing the five solons to the Department of Justice in Manila, De Venecia asked the justice department to hold the legal proceedings within the Batasan complex.

He said the House leadership had agreed last Thursday that if the preliminary investigation was to be held as scheduled at the DoJ, the House would have the five embattled solons escorted by security personnel led by House Sergeant-at-arms Bayani Fabic.

Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco, head of the investigating panel, said they decided to hear the side of the congressmen on the charges at 10 a.m. today in the Batasan complex to spare them from the hassle of travelling to the DoJ in Manila.

However, he said, they will be holding another hearing at the DoJ on the complaint at 2 p.m., to accomodate the counter-affidavits of the rest of the respondents.

"The holding of the preliminary investigation at Congress is out of respect for our lawmakers," Velasco said. According to him, the move is an initiative of the DoJ to "spare the congressmen from the trouble of traveling to DoJ," which could entail a lot stricter security arrangements on the part of the government.

Velasco said the police will be presenting a major witness to prove the links of the five solons to the communists and to rightist armed rebels.

Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casino, and Joel Virador, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza are supposed to be transported today to the DoJ building in Manila to refute charges against them in the preliminary investigation.

However, the five solons, who have been under the custody of Speaker Jose de Venecia, expressed apprehension that they may be arrested if they leave the premises of the House.

Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, who was originally included in the complaint filed against the five and the other respondents, has already been charged in court with rebellion and is now detained at Camp Crame.

Beltran, 73, was brought to the PNP General Hospital in Camp Crame on March 2 after being diagnosed with hypertension. He was arrested a day after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed the country under a state of national emergency on Feb. 24.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said the DoJ had informed him and his four colleagues in the Batasan that the preliminary investigation of the rebellion charges filed against them was scheduled at 2 p.m. today at the office of Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno.

According to him it does not matter to them where the venue of the proceedings would be conducted.

"Speaker De Venecia called us up this morning to inform us that he has requested the DoJ for the transfer of the venue (of the preliminary investigation)," Ocampo told Manila Bulletin.

Sorsogon Rep. Jose Solis, chairman of the House Committee on National Defense, said security concerns may have prompted the Speaker to make the request.

This is the first time that a legislative body has extended its members protection from arrest. Ocampo and company are not covered by the parliamentary immunity from arrest because the rebellion charge carries a penalty of over six years imprisonment.

Ocampo said all five of them will be represented by a team of lawyers headed by Romeo Capulong. It is not expected, however, that the five solons will be able to submit today their counter-affidavit to the rebellion case filed by the PNP which claimed that the charges covers their involvement in the plan to overthrow the government in the past 15 years.

The charges stemmed from the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police on Feb. 27 before the DoJ against 51 individuals identified with leftist groups. Chief Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza Jr., acting deputy director of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), submitted the names of more than 50 individuals or their aliases and several still unidentified persons, including the six lawmakers, for violation of Articles 134 and 135 of the Revised Penal Code for rebellion or insurrection.

Aside from the party-list solons, other respondents named in the complaint are CPP-NPA founder and Chairman Jose Maria Sison, National Democratic Front spokesman Luis Jalandoni, NPA leaders Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal, Sotero Llamas, and Fidel Agcaoili.

Among the other respondents who allegedly conspired with the CPP-NPA in a plot to topple the government is Marine 1st Lt. Lawrence San Juan. The PNP filed its complaint with the DoJ and supported it with documents and a diskette found in the possession of the escaped and recaptured Magdalo leader.

According to the complaint, Sison, in conspiracy with the others, drew up a three-year plan (2003-2005) "to raise the level of the people’s war and make all-round advances in the revolution."

Part of the plan, it was alleged, was the the ouster of the Chief Executive through a three-stage people’s war, which would include setting up of armed city partisans and broadening of legal fronts.

The legal fronts being referred to in the plan, the PNP complaint said, were party-list organizations Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Gabriela, as well as Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Pamalakaya, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Kadamay, LFS, Kaguma, Courage, Armas, Cairus, and CNL.

Atrocities the AFP and the PNP had attributed to the CPP-NPA ranged from numerous raids and ambuscades nationwide to assassinations of their so-called "rejectionists" — like Cagayan Rep. Rodolfo Aguinaldo, Romeo Kintanar, Rommel Tabara, and Popoy Lagman — to employment of children as combatants, mass killings, and use of land mines.