“Three hundred sixty political prisoners still
languish in Philippine jails contrary to Malacañang’s denial,” asserted NUPL
Secretary General Atty. Edre Olalia.
“It might be shocking
for Malacanang to find out that there are still political prisoners, several of
whom are our clients,” Olalia sarcastically commented on
behalf of the group of lawyers that handles several political prisoners, victims
of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrests as
well as peasant, worker and urban poor cases.
Olalia made the assertion in reaction to the recent
statement issued by Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, who reportedly
boldly claimed there were no more political prisoners in the Philippines.
The NUPL, established in September 2007 amid rising cases of extrajudicial killings and
forcible abductions attributed to state forces, has over 400 members nationwide
comprising lawyers, law students and paralegals . It has discovered and known all along that the
alleged acts of the prisoners they are
representing or helping are, even if hypothetically admitted, actually
political in nature.
Olalia noted that only a minority of political
detainees were charged with rebellion. At least 85 % of suspected political
offenders are improperly charged with non-bailable ordinary crimes and not with
rebellion. They were accused of committing murder, arson, illegal possession of
firearms or explosives, physical injuries and other common crimes. “We have assessed that most of these
are actually false or fabricated charges that further persecute these
detainees, degrade their stature, mock the basic rules of evidence and is a
travesty of justice. These, on top of the multifarious violations of their
rights including torture and harassment.”
Recently, NUPL lawyers had an
audience with Justice Secretary Leila De Lima and Undersecretary Francisco
Baraan III where they pointed out two dirty tricks that gave notoriety to the
past Arroyo administration: Firstly, charging political prisoners with common
crimes and, secondly, the improvident use of “John/Jane Does” in criminal
informations filed in court. This odious practice continues until today.
Political activists are the usual victims of the
improvident use of John/Jane Does. Whenever an information involving “John/Jane
Does” is hastily filed in court, spurious witnesses belatedly spring up to
identify activists and members of political
organizations supposedly as the unknown
suspects, by fabricating affidavits naming certain persons to be the John/Jane
Does in the charge sheet.
“After the political activists are identified in
bad faith as the John/Jane Does, arrest
warrants are issued and they are arrested without any preliminary investigation
in violation of their right to due process,” Olalia added.
The NUPL, which just marked its 4th year
anniversary last month, has joined growing calls for a “ general, omnibus and unconditional
amnesty for all political prisoners” as a matter of justice long overdue.
Aside from their meeting with the justice
secretary, the NUPL visited the Batangas Provincial Jail to
talk with seven political prisoners and coordinated with the local chapter of
the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP-Batangas) to extend to them legal
assistance in close collaboration with the NUPL. One of the political prisoners
visited by the NUPL in Batangas was Maricon Montajes, a mass communication
student of the University of the Philippines . She was charged with Illegal
Possession of Explosives, Violation of the Fire Arm Ban under the Omnibus
Election Code, and Illegal Possession of Fire Arms and Ammunition.
While some political detainees have already been
freed, Secretary De Lima noted that the Justice Department is working to have more
of them released in the near future through the Presidential Committee on Bail,
Release, and Pardon (PCBREP). Secretary De Lima agreed with the legal position
of NUPL and recognized its concerns, telling
them that a directive will be issued to the National Prosecution Service (NPS)
to form a committee that will study these issues and draft a department circular to address
this problem. It was thus
totally puzzling to the NUPL delegation that, unlike the military and
Malacanang, the DOJ tacitly recognizes that there are political prisoners.
The
existence of political prisoners in several parts of the country is an obvious
matter of fact that Malacanang will be hard put to deny with a straight face
like the dictator Marcos. #
Reference:
Atty. Edre U. Olalia, NUPL Secretary General (09175113373)
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