The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested the paralegal guarding the body of slain Anakpawis chair Randall “Randy” Echanis early morning Tuesday, August 11.

In a phone interview with Rappler, Rachel Pastores, one of Echanis’ lawyers, said that paralegal Pao Colabres was arrested at around 2 am during a vigil for Echanis.

What happened before?

The arrest follows the police “forcibly” taking Echanis’ body from a St Peter’s funeral home branch, the Echanis family’s preferred place of wake, to the Pink Petals Memorial Homes in La Loma, Quezon City.

Police took the body without the consent of the Echanis family and claimed that his body needed a “release order,” a document unheard of in handling dead bodies.

What happens next?

Colabres is currently detained at the headquarters of the QCPD in Camp Karingal. He is set for inquest proceedings for obstruction of justice – an alleged violation that Pastores denied.

Pastores said the police already had Echanis’ body in their possession and that Colabres was only there to prevent procedures, such as an autopsy, from being conducted without the Echanis family’s consent. – Rappler.com