MANILA - Former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, incumbent ACT-Teachers Party-list Representative France Castro and 16 others were released from jail after posting bail.

Tagum City Executive Judge Arlene Palabrica ordered Ocampo's group released after they each posted a bail of around P80,000.

Human rights group Karapatan earlier said that the Philippine National Police was set to defy the court order, but a later statement posted on the group's Facebook page said they were preparing to welcome back Ocampo, Castro and others on Sunday December 2, 1:30 p.m.

Ocampo and his group were stopped on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at a police checkpoint in the town of Talaingod, Davao del Norte for carrying children of indigenous peoples in the area. The PNP said the minors were being transported without documents of parental consent.

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Ocampo's group said it was delivering school supplies to indigenous communities, but police officials said the arrest "stemmed from complaints of parents and tribal leaders" in the province.

On Friday, the PNP charged Ocampo and his group with kidnapping and human trafficking.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. took to Twitter to express his dismay over Ocampo's arrest on kidnapping and human trafficking charges.

• Locsin vouches for Satur Ocampo, scoffs at arrest

- with a report from Bonna Pamplona, ABS-CBN News