ACT said the officials should let Mas be released from the jail as the offense that he did was not that severe and that they should not continue the case that they filed against the teacher.
According to ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilo, people should just ignore the post of Mas online because they should know that the latter doesn't have any capacity to pay Php50M as his salary was not reaching on such high amount. Basilio even criticized the government because they were using the law as their we4pons.
Basilio told,
"Teachers' dire economic state is no secret to the people, especially to the government, 25-yer old Teacher Ronnel obviously does not have 50 million to pay as bounty hence his post clearly does not pose any serious thre4t to the President. Why then did the NBI spend valuable time and resources to apprehend this teacher?"
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdie Gaite also has the same complaint, saying that NBI should know that his post was the only exaggeration and it was impossible for him to reward such a big amount to anyone.
Gaite said,
"What happened to Teacher Ronnel was selective persecution targeting dissenters. NBI knows that his tweet was just hyperbole, and a teacher who lives on a meager salary couldn't possibly reward anyone 50M, The authoritarian regime just wants to send a chilling warning to critics."
Mas, on the other hand, already asking for forgiveness, saying that what he said was not intentional and he only says such things because he wanted to catch the attention of many netizens. But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra stated that apologizing was not enough and he should face the consequence of the action that he made.
Guevarra explained,
"Apology is not one of the grounds for extinguishing criminal liability. I cannot feloniously injure another and get away with it by merely saying 'sorry'."
According to National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Ferdinand Lavin, Mav was now in the custody of NBI and will face a case of 'inciting to sedition'.
Source: NEWSTV5
