“ A singular opportunity to further help ferret out the truth in the interest of substantial justice right there and then was lost.” This was the statement of Atty. Edre Olalia, Secretary General of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)after the 2nd hearing for preliminary investigation yesterday on the case of the abduction, rape and torture among others of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeῇo.
During the hearing and after much argumentation and deliberation, the DOJ Panel eventually denied the motion of the NUPL, counsel for the complainants, to allow one of their eyewitnesses Wilfredo Ramos to point before the Panel and ask the identity of one of the abductors - named as one of the John Does in the complaint - whom Ramos vividly recognized to be in the room. Ramos was then 14 years old when he actually witnessed a group of armed men forcibly take away the two students and farmer Manuel Merino in June 2006. He and his father were threatened, intimidated and maltreated.
The suspect whom Ramos positively identified wore smoke glasses throughout the preliminary investigation. “According to Ramos, the suspect was seated almost right behind retired military general Palparan. He was conspicuously closely guarding the general like a shadow before, during and after the hearing,” according to Atty. Olalia. “This is the height of brazenness and arrogance. One of the alleged but still unnamed perpetrators had the gall and temerity to go to the hearing and display himself, intimidating and eyeing Ramos all throughout the hearing. He was openly thumbing his nose, as it were, at the whole justice system ” Atty. Olalia added.
Ramos posthaste stepped out in the middle of the hearing and broke down inside the comfort room, his head buried in his knees and quivering in fear on the floor. He was profusely crying and was inconsolable. He refused to come back to the hearing as he was enveloped with torment.
Contending that Ramos should be allowed to point out who among the persons in the gallery is the one of the unnamed suspects in order that justice will be fully served, NUPL lawyers argued that the motion to identify the suspect – who was not present during the first hearing -- was for the complainants to ascertain and verify his identity. They argued that public prosecutors should have expanded powers and wide latitude and discretion especially in cases of political killings and disappearances.
The NUPL explained that the predicament of the complainants is that the eyewitness only recognized the man when he saw him again yesterday but did not know his name as this is one of the modus operandi of perpetrators. “We [NUPL lawyers] shall of course respect the suspect’s due process rights and give him the reasonable opportunity to controvert all the allegations against him if he so wishes,” Atty. Olalia stated. “This is something that, based on complainants’ evidence, Palparan and his conspirators denied Cadapan, Empeῇo, the complainants’ witnesses and countless others, ” Olalia, who is part of a 7-person legal team from NUPL headed by Atty. Jun Oliva, added.
“That is why we are engaged in all these protracted, and even frustrating and tedious, yet necessary legal process. We officers of the court would want to be fair and reasonable. It would have been so easy to just point him out publicly without leave of the DOJ Panel. But we opted not at that point.” he said.
“This is not prejudicial to Gen. Palparan and the unnamed suspect as the former’s lawyer contended because precisely the latter is being given the chance to stand up and clear his name if so warranted, rather than to hide behind the coattails of his principal. Are they unwittingly saying that he is part of the conspiracy? ” Olalia pointed out.
The complainants are now mulling all the legal and investigative steps they have to undertake on their own despite the limitations and difficulties. But the lawyers are also taking to task the professed commitment of the AFP Human Rights Office and the Provost Marshal General to cooperate in the identification of the other suspects.
“We challenge the military to walk the talk and help identify the suspect and produce, in the next hearing, the person whom witness Wilfredo Ramos privately pointed to his lawyers as one of the abductors,” Atty. Olalia remarked, even as the complainants have already finished the filing of their application with the Justice Secretary to place the respondents in the Watch List of the Immigration. #
Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (09175113373)
