By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) is banking on the Regional Trial Court’s exercise of judicial independence for a favorable judgment on the motion for a new trial of their secretary general Sarah Dekdeken for the cyberlibel conviction.

“We call on the court to uphold justice and exercise judicial independence in deciding on our appeal for a new trial,” Windel Bolinget, CPA chairperson, said in an interview on January 19 during the petition hearing.

He reiterated that Dekdeken, like himself and other CPA leaders, is the target of legal attack, an escalation from the political vilification and red tagging they experienced in the past several years.

“This is part of the systematic attack launched by the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) against activists and progressive organizations like us,” he said.

Dekdeken, whom family, friends, and colleagues fondly call Bestang, is an activist since her college years at the University of the Philippines Baguio. She hails from Besao and Sagada, Mountain Province.

As Asia Program Director for Land is Life, a global coalition advancing indigenous peoples’ rights, her development work, and advocacy go beyond the Cordillera region and the country’s borders.

Bolinget also echoed calls for the decriminalization of libel, noting the weaponization of the law against activists, journalists, and practically anyone who speaks against influential persons.

Judge Ivan Kim Morales convicted Dekdeken of cyberlibel on December 1 over the controversial January 4, 2021, dismantling of the Anti-Chico Dams Struggle monument. The court also imposed a P250,000 fine and a P10,000 payment for moral damages.

Then Cordillera Police Regional Office director  BGen. Rwin Pagkalinawan sued Dekdeken after she implicated the police official in the destruction of the marker during a news conference, which CPA broadcasted live on its Facebook page.

With assistance from CPA, the community installed the structure in 2017 along the Bontoc-Kalinga Road in Barangay Bugnay, Tinglayan, Kalinga, to honor the martyrs and people’s unity against the Chico River Dam project during martial law.

‘Fear of retaliation’

Saying that a new trial would “temper the severity of a judgment or prevent the failure of justice,” Dekdeken asked the court to hear the testimonies from witnesses who could not testify for fear of retaliation from the complainant.

The petition included the judicial affidavits of the new witnesses who “attest that (Dekdeken’s) statement was derived from comments and reactions of Bugnay residents who were outraged by the [monument’s] demolition.”

The motion also mentioned that witnesses failed to travel and execute their affidavits due to the ongoing tribal war between the Butbut and Betwagan tribes. Barangay Bugnay is part of the Butbut tribe.

“But this time, the witnesses are willing to come out to corroborate the statement of the accused. If and when presented, it will be proven that the statement of the accused is based on factual matters,” the petition said.

#Stand with Bestang

A day before the trial, CPA and its allied organizations launched a signature campaign supporting Dekdeken’s bid to reverse her conviction.

“We stand that Bestang’s conviction was in error. Her remarks that were subjected to the court’s ruling were true and backed up by the community, concretized through resolutions and reports from April 2021,” the online manifesto stated.

The declaration said the decision on the cyberlibel case proves the “weaponization of laws … to intimidate—and silence—critics and truth-tellers.”

“She has been instrumental in forging solidarities with other struggling peoples for the defense of the ancestral land and for the right to self-determination,” the manifesto said.

In a statement of support, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan called on “friends, allies, and democracy-loving citizens to sign the petition.”

“We join human rights advocates in asserting that Bestang’s work as an activist is a shining example of her commitment to truth and accountability,” the statement said.

“We enjoin the public to stand with Bestang in calling for the reversal of her cyber libel conviction, the decriminalization of libel, and the pursuit of accountability against state forces which conspired to criminalize her advocacy,” the group added.

International and local media organizations and human rights groups have been urging the Philippine government to decriminalize libel for decades, citing its use and abuse to supplant freedom of the press and expression. In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recommended that authorities review the country’s libel law, calling it “excessive.” Broadcaster turned senator Raffy Tulfo also recently backed decriminalizing libel for specific individuals. # nordis.net