Editor’s note: The article has been updated to correct the information about the number of ATA cases dismissed.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
(Updated: Sept. 7, 2024; 7:32 pm) MANILA – No probable cause.
This is the decision of the Malolos Regional Trial Court on the Anti-Terrorism charges filed against Bayan Muna and Makabayan Coalition Secretary General Nathanael Santiago, development worker Rosario Brenda Gonzalez, church lay worker Anasusa San Gabriel, and Servillano Luna, Jr., campaign director and former secretary general of Anakpawis.
Malolos RTC Branch 12 Presiding Judge Julie P. Merculio said that based on the information and supporting documents, there is no probable cause to hold all the accused for trial.
The case against Santiago, Gonzales, San Gabriel and Luna was filed by 1LT Michael J. Regalari, who alleged that the four were involved in an encounter between the military and members of Kilusang Larangan Gerilya-Sierra Madre (KLG-SM) on Oct. 8, 2023 in barangay San Fernando, Laur, Nueva Ecija. The four were purportedly positively identified by “witnesses.”
According to Karapatan, ATA charges against 22 activists have already been dismissed.
Read: Activists, church, dev’t workers charged with violation of anti-terrorism law
In the court’s ruling dated Sept. 3, Merculio said “the court is not convinced that a warrant of arrest should be issued against all the 34 accused who are named in the information and that they should be held for trial.”
Merculio added that evidence submitted is not sufficient to show that all the accused were present and “were in physical or constructive possession of the pieces of ammunition, explosives, and other weapons during the armed encounter on October 8, 2023 and that they conspired in shooting at the members of the 84th Infantry Battalion, 7ID, Philippine Army resulting to the death of PFC Casayuran.”
Read: Meet the 4 activists charged with anti-terror law
Merculio said that in charging all the accused with serious and non-bailable offenses of violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 202, “the active participation of each accused in the commission of the acts of terrorism which were intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person’s life, and through the possession or use of ammunition, weapons, and explosives with the purpose of intimidating the public in order to create an atmosphere of fear and to undermine public safety must be clear and supported by competent evidence.”
Meanwhile, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers-National Capital Region (NUPL-NCR) said that stronger sanctions against the abuse of the ATA should be in place following the dismissal of charges against the four activists.
“The decision of the Malolos RTC points at glaring factual and legal errors in the charges – which simply tells us they should not have been approved by the prosecutors and filed by the military in the first place,” the lawyers group said in a statement.
“The charges against Rosario Brenda Gonzalez, a convenor of the NGO Assert Socio-Economic Initiatives Network (ASCENT), are clearly trumped-up. While she is vindicated, she also lends her support to other development workers facing terrorism-related charges. Paghida-et sa Kauswagan Development Group (PDG), the Leyte Centre for Development (LCDe), and Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET) are other civil society organizations which come under the ambit of repressive counter-terrorism implementation,” the group added.
The group added that they are now “studying redress mechanisms and penalties for such malicious prosecution and other abuses, in the context of the recent Supreme Court implementing rules and the persistent question of the constitutionality of the ATA.” (RTS, RVO)
