AFP CHALLENGED – WALK THE TALK AND PRODUCE THE UNNAMED SUSPECTS IN CASE OF MISSING STUDENTS Complainants’ Private Lawyers Affirm Respect to Due Process that Gen.Palparan and cabal denied their clients

“ 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 2^nd 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)

SC Decision Fortifies Criminal Case Against Palparan in Cadapan=Empeno Disappearance and Torture - NUPL

21 June 21, 2011
NEWS RELEASE

Reference: Atty. Ephraim Cortez, NUPL assistant secretary general for legal services (09164093986)

The recent Supreme Court decision affirming the writ of amparo for two missing UP students bolsters the criminal complaint against Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and five other identified suspects for the disappearance and torture of the students, said the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).

NUPL, counsel for the mothers of missing UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, said in a statement, “The SC ruled that Palparan had personal participation in the abduction of Karen and Sherlyn. In fact the court has identified him and his cohorts as personally liable for the disappearance of Karen and Sherlyn, and had ordered them to cause their release.”

The NUPL referred to the SC decision dated May 31, 2011, penned by retired Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, affirming that Palparan, Lt. Col. Felipe Anotado, Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac, 2Lt. Francis Mirabelle Samson, M/Sgt. Donald Caigas, and Arnel Enriquez must immediately release Cadapan and Empeno. “By pointing to them as the persons liable for the disappearance of the two students, the Court itself gave credence to the charge of arbitrary detention of the two students against Palparan et al. The SC thus submitted ‘probable cause’ in the criminal case against the accused,” said NUPL assistant secretary general for legal services Atty. Ephraim Cortez.

Probable cause is the standard by which a person may be arrested. It means that the facts or evidence point to a particular person who committed a specific crime. Testimony of Manalo remains unshaken Atty. Cortez said that the SC also validated the credibility of the testimony of Raymond Manalo, who is one of the witnesses in the criminal case against Palparan. “The testimony of Manalo, which the Court said was forthright, consistent and credible, will be the tough backbone of the criminal charges. It has been unshaken so far even by malicious aspersions,” said Atty. Cortez. The NUPL will present at least six of the same witnesses from the writ of amparo petition, in the criminal case. The testimonies in totality confirm that the military has custody of Karen and Sherlyn.

The criminal charges against Palparan et al are for arbitrary detention, serious physical injuries, torture, and violation of the law on the rights of prisoners. Certain Mickey, Donald and Billy Does were also alleged as the ones who raped Sherlyn. also impleaded M/Sgt. Rizal Hilario and several John and Jane Does from the 24th and 56th Infantry Battalion, and the 7th Infantry Division were also impleaded by Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeno, who filed the charges last May. “Palparan’s denial of any of the allegations should be treated as simple yet puerile defenses, not exemption from criminal charges. His arrest is imminent,” said Atty. Cortez. The mothers and NUPL are awaiting the notice of preliminary investigation, where prosecutors will determine probable cause and thereafter issue a warrant of arrest.

Writ of amparo is immediately executory
The SC also ordered the incumbent commanding generals of the 7th Infantry Division and the 24th Infantry Battalion to produce the students, along with farmer Manuel Merino. In the definitive ruling, the SC further stated that a writ of amparo is immediately executory, “otherwise it will defeat the purpose of the writ.”

The NUPL called on the commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen Juanito P. Lopez, to fully cooperate in the continuing search for the missing persons.“The SC decision clearly and forcefully directs the military to release or at least point us to where Karen, Sherlyn and Manuel are. President Noynoy Aquino as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should heed this order,” said Atty. Cortez.

 

Command responsibility

NUPL however lamented the decision for clearing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, former police director general Gen. Avelino Razon, and Gen. Romeo Tolentino from liability.

“The assertion of NUPL is that Mrs. Arroyo personally knew, and could have prevented the disappearance of Karen and Sherlyn because of her administration’s policy Oplan Bantay Laya. She and her generals tacitly knew, approved, tolerated, supervised, managed, induced and/or ordered the operations which has resulted in the disappearance of hundreds of civilians,” said NUPL secretary-general Atty. Edre U. Olalia.

NUPL asserts that Oplan Bantay Laya, the past administration’s counter-insurgency program, is the framework of the huge number of extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances and other unsolved human rights violations.

“The disappearance and torture of Karen, Sherlyn and Manuel were human rights violations perpetrated by foot soldiers and policemen under Arroyo’s aggressive counter-insurgency policy. We do not implead Arroyo simply based on command responsibility,” said Olalia.

Appeal for dignity and justice
Atty. Sandra Jill Santos, a UP Law graduate who was a contemporary and friend of Sherlyn and cocounsel in the criminal case, said “We will exhaust all avenues to make the perpetrators accountable. They have caused enough pain to the families of the Karen and Sherlyn, and countless others who disappeared during General Palparan’s ‘reign of terror’. Various reports have shown that he continued to tyrannize human rights defenders even after retiring. The perpetrators must be put behind bars so that justice may be served.”

“After five years of agonized searching, it is time to give the families and friends of the missing, dignity and justice,” she said. The UP community will mark the fifth year of their disappearance on Sunday, 26 June 2011.

NUPL is also the counsel of other victims of human rights violations, such as the 43 health workers illegally arrested in Morong, Rizal last year, and Fil-Am activist Melissa Roxas who was arrested in 2009 and later released. It also calls on other victims to file counter-charges in a bid to stop impunity.#

On Proposed Military Honors Burial: Rights Lawyers Say: As Always, Shameless

PRESS STATEMENT

10 June 2011

On Proposed Marcos Military Honors Burial

Rights Lawyers Say: As Always, Shameless

Oxy-moronic, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers said on the proposal to give military honors to the late Ferdinand Marcos who is universally regarded as a dictator and criminal.

Actually an attempt to combine two terms, oxymoron and moronic, this self-made coinage first springs to mind when coming to terms to a dictator’s burial under this government’s formula.

That Marcos the butcher seems to be headed for a burial of course should be good for his hometown’s health issues, if his cadaver were genuine and not just a wax figure. But to be buried with full military honors?  The idea sounds surreal and weird, but at the same time, odious.

Military honors, just like military intelligence, rivet the mind. Can this be possible? To begin with, do they exist? But military honors are just as incredibly opposite terms. Generations of  generals and chiefs of staff, an insider, the treasurer, calls them thieves. His reportage does not depict an isolated instance of greed but a wholesale institutionalized rapacity .

So is there anything significant from being accorded military honors? Not much we must say. Perhaps the exception is simply the singular distinction of being awarded congratulatory pats by thieves.

We really could not care less about Marcos being kept among the company of his cohorts in the military. They are simply one and the same, identical twins through and through. They are fullthroated poster boys and girls of everything that injustice has been associated with. So indeed go ahead bury Marcos with the pomp and pageantry of military honors, it surely does not matter.

According Marcos his military honors would be wasting the peoples’ money extorted through taxes on a boondoggle. This intended event is a splurge that certainly could have been put to beneficial uses. Adding the money up to the pot for lotto winnings would have more moral values than spending them for a lanyard in Marcos’ funeral procession. 

The State’s participation in dressing up a cadaver of ghoulish symbolisms is by any measure a foul deed.  It teaches wrong values. It educates a wrong message. It stultifies the mind and soul to believe that in this part of the planet, a butcher and thief invariably gets to be a hero someday, courtesy not the least from an incredible number of supposed representatives of the people who, from the glare and height of their temporary pedestals,  have shamelessly turned blind overnight to history and from a top-level government official that rationalizes what is politically expedient to what is right and moral.

The bourgeoisie led by the current President relishes the world’s salutation of our history of people power. Yet his government plays a conspirator’s to the destruction of this same image by adoring the villain that its bourgeois power play had purportedly disposed of.

Marcos can very well have the military honors he and his cohorts want. We will not lose sleep over it. They can fire their guns a million or even a billion times to praise and kiss the behind to bid adieu to a dictator, butcher, thief and plunderer rolled into one. They can stage the pageantry they wish to enact. But leave the peoples’ money out of it. And do not distort what this plan is all about – this taut story of musical chair among leaders where only names and tags change but always absent the commitment to the genuine overthrow of the system of abuse and exploitation.

It is embarrassing to be debating this oxymoron. Actually it is shameful to be even  making known our position again on this middling topic. Oxy-moronic, the combination of oxymoron and moronic behavior, for as Marcos and the thieves and fascists in the military bear the same feathers, let them flock together.#

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia

Secretary General

0917-5113373

Is marriage by indigenous law legal or illegal?

By MARY ANN MANJA BAYANG
www.nordis.net
When the media released coverage of an alleged Ibaloi wedding between celebrated actor, Robin Padilla and actress Mariel Rodriguez, it created so much fuzz, not just in the entertainment world who either felt elated or disappointed, but among the indigenous peoples in the country. Some criticised the procedure done in the ceremony. Some would feel proud that Robin has again been proud of his Igorot roots. Still, some would deny indigenous affiliations to Robin. A lot of statements have been issued on whether the wedding was recognized by law or not. Various local lawyers have said their pieces on the matter, and most of them would posit that the marriage between Robin and Mariel in the Ibaloi tradition is not recognized by law unless solemnized by either a priest, a mayor or a judge.
Putting aside the issue of proper procedure of indigenous marriage rituals and of whether Robin or Mariel or both are indigenous persons, is marriage between and among indigenous peoples recognized by law?
Yes!
The respect and recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights gained momentum in the recent years as shown by various international and national laws recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples to their customs, traditions and religious practices.
The 1987 Constitution declared it a policy of the State to recognize and promote the rights of indigenous cultural communities. Ten years later, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) was passed which affirms the right of indigenous peoples to “manifest, practice, develop teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and ceremonies”. In 2007, the Philippines signed the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) which reiterates the rights of indigenous peoples specially “right to practise and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs.”
The Family Code itself provides that marriages among “members of the ethnic cultural communities may be performed validly without the necessity of marriage license, provided they are solemnized in accordance with their customs, rites or practices.”
The implementing rules of the IPRA, Rule VI, Section 8 thus provides: “Marriages performed in accordance with customary laws, rites, traditions and practices shall be recognized as valid. As proof of marriage, the testimony of authorized community elders or authorities of traditional socio-political structures shall be recognized as evidence of marriage for purposes of registration.”
In 2004, the National Statistics Office (NSO) released Administrative Order No. 3, series of 2004 giving further application to the above provision, further provides that marriages among indigenous peoples “performed in accordance with customary laws, rites, traditions, and practices, shall be reported within thirty (30) days after the date of marriage by the person authorized to solemnize marriage, or in his default, by the parties to the marriage, to the C/MCR of the city or municipality where the marriage ceremony was celebrated.” The solemnization of the marriage should be done in accordance with indigenous peoples’ customary laws of either contracting party.
In the same NSO administrative order, Rule 9 thereof provides that the dissolution of marriage among indigenous peoples done pursuant to customary laws shall be recognized and can be directly registered with the Civil Registry without any need of Court intervention. Indigenous peoples therefore do not need to go to Court for declaration of nullity or annulment of marriage.
Even with these laws and rules however, I still have to hear of an actual case using these rules.
A lot of indigenous peoples and lawyers are still not aware of these rules. For us working in indigenous peoples’ region, this is a much easier way to go rather than the rigorous, long and expensive court litigation. # nordis.net