STOP the Criminalization of Southern Tagalog Political Activists!

It was only then that lawyers discovered this separate case of multiple murder and frustrated multiple murder filed against 72 persons, including most of the Southern Tagalog 27.The information cited an NPA ambush in Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental in March 3, 2006.

Around 30 of the 72 accused are active leaders, and members of progressive people’s organizations in Southern Tagalog.

On October 27, 2008, in a court proceeding regarding Atty. Saladero’s case, provincial prosecutor Josephine Caranzo-Olivar admitted that no preliminary investigation was conducted when the names of the 71 were added to the amended information. . This means that no inquiry was held to determine if there was probable cause against the additional 71 individuals.

The same day, Crispin Zapanta also among the 72 accused, was arrested in Antipolo City.

Saladero, San Jose and Zapanta are now detained at the Calapan City Provincial Jail.

On November 4, Anakpawis Provincial Coordinator and spokesman of the Katipunan ng Magbubukid sa Kabite (Kamagsasaka-Ka) Rogelio Galit was arrested by the PNP in his house in Kaong, Silang, Cavite. Galit is bedridden and is suffering from diabetes.

Also included in the complaint are human rights victims themselves. They include Arman Albarillo, who lost both his parents after they were murdered by military forces, and Orly Marcellana, who’s wife Eden Marcellana (Karapatan ST Secretary General) was killed in Mindoro by soldiers under Gen. Jovito Palparan. Albarillo has been a consistent complainant in the impeachment cases filed against Mrs. Gloria Arroyo.

IMPLICATIONS

The current legal offensive against progressive leaders and activists in Southern Tagalog is not an isolated incident. It has been preceded by similar baseless criminal charges against Bayan and other mass leaders such as in the provinces of Negros and Davao. It should also be recalled that trumped-up murder charges were filed against Rep. Satur Ocampo, peasant leader Randal Echanis and other progressives in relation to alleged mass graves in Hilonggos, Leyte. Rep. Ocampo is out on bail while Echanis is detained at the Manila City Jail.

The cases against the ST activists is particularly alarming because of their wholesale and sweeping nature: Almost all high-profile regional and provincial leaders have been charged. Even more disturbing are the legal shortcuts that were resorted to by the prosecutor in implicating 72 respondents without the benefit of any preliminary investigation and the hasty issuance of arrest warrants by the Calapan RTC .

It appears that the principal impetus for the filing of these new cases against the 72 is consistent with the communist-labeling/demonizing being resorted to by the Arroyo regime and the state security forces. The cases portray and subsequently accuse legal activists to be members of the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Phililppines. But instead of filing rebellion cases against them, they are instead charged with common crimes such as murder and arson.

Like in the previous rebellion cases against partylist lawmakers and activists, the current multiple murder and frustrated multiple murder charges were filed through highly irregular procedures thereby denying the accused their right to due process.

These trumped-up charges have all the imprints of the Department of Justice, the InterAgency Legal Action Group (IALAG), the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

What the Arroyo regime could no longer accomplish through extrajudicial killings and abductions, it now tries to accomplish through the filing of non-bailable criminal charges. The objective is clearly to neutralize the activist leaders by detaining them illegally or forcing them to go into hiding. At the same time, there is the intention to terrorize the remaining leaders, activists and the political mass base of Bayan and other progressive organizations and party list groups.