Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña yesterday said he is leaving his 3-year-old son abroad for awhile for his safety.

Peña, who said he was calling from abroad, also added that he is not guilty of contempt because the Dec. 3 Supreme Court Third Division order did not direct him to turn over his son to Marie Roxanne “Plinky” Recto, the mother of the boy.

The Dec. 3 SC order was directed to the National Bureau of Investigation to get the boy from him and turn the child over to Recto, Peña said.

The actions of Recto and her lawyer Evalyn Ursua in showing his son's picture on national television literally signed his death warrant, Peña said.

That is because aside from the threat of the boy's being kidnapped by the New People's Army, Peña said his friends in the intelligence community have warned him that even the ordinary kidnap for ransom gangs are now eyeing to seize his son, too.

Because of this imminent danger to his son's life, Peña said under paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of the Article 12 of the Revised Penal Code he has to leave his son abroad.

He pointed out that circumstances which exempt from criminal liability under Article 12 are: Any person who act under the compulsion of irresistible force, any person who acts under the impulse of an uncontrollable fear of an equal or greater injury, and any person who fails to perform an act required by law, when prevented by some lawful insuperable cause, he said.

“With all due respect to Justice Nachura, with his order of turning my son over to the mother despite the kidnap threat by the NPA and despite the fact that Atty. Ursua has links to leftist groups, he might as well have ordered the NBI to turn over my son to the NPA,” Peña said.

“By this statement I do not mean any malice or contempt, it is just that the life of my helpless son is at stake,” he said.

Ursua said she would not dignify Peña's statements with answers, he should check his facts.

“Under natural law, the principle of pater familia, the father should protect his children with his life. Natural law was with us even before there was the Republic of the Philippines , our Constitution and even the Supreme Court,” he said.

On Ursua's statement that the Bureau of Immigration records show that he and the boy had not left the country from Jan. 1 to Dec. 18, Peña said she should watch “Born Identity” and learn a few tricks.

In the movie the main character used different names and fake passports.

Peña said he would like to thank Ursua for stating last week that if his son was brought out of the country after Dec. 18, in her opinion that would have been a violation of the Supreme Court order.

If the child did leave the country after Dec. 18, it could only be to defeat the implementation of the SC resolution, Ursua said in an urgent omnibus motion she filed for Recto seeking among others for Peña to be cited for contempt and for an arrest warrant and hold departure order to be issued against him.

Since my son was brought out before Dec. 18 I am not liable and I cannot be compelled to bring him back, Peña said.

“Ursua should stop picking a fight with me because I have no intention of fighting her. However, she should watch out for Smith and his friends,” he said.

Ursua was the private prosecutor in the Subic rape case that let to the conviction of US Lance Corporal Daniel Smith.*CPG

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