JUSTICE CHIEF TO 'BATASAN 5': GO BACK TO THE MOUNTAINS
MANILA, MAY 9, 2006 (STAR) By Jose Rodel Clapano - Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez advised yesterday the so-called "Batasan Five," composed of left-leaning party-list representatives, to "go back to the mountains where they belong" because the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not stop prosecuting them until they are found guilty of rebellion and sent to prison.At a press conference, Gonzalez said the DOJ has not been manufacturing evidence against the Batasan Five, who sought refuge in the House of Representatives starting Feb. 27 and were able to leave Congress’ halls without being arrested only yesterday.
"They can run, but they cannot hide. The law will take its course under due process. I assure them that we do not manufacture evidence, as they have been claiming...," Gonzalez said.
He said the DOJ will no longer insist on the amended information that Makati City regional trial court Judge Jenny Lind Aldecoa-Delorino earlier junked because they can opt to file a new complaint against party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis.
He stressed the Batasan Five have not yet been acquitted by the Makati RTC.
"The refusal of the judge to accept the amended information was just a technicality that was not an acquittal. The five have not been arraigned yet," Gonzalez said.
He also sarcastically reacted to the threat made by lawyer Romeo Capulong, legal counsel of the Batasan Five, that he would file a disbarment case against Gonzalez for showing bias in handling the case against the left-leaning party-list representatives.
"Tell him (Capulong) I’m so scared. I hope they will go back to the mountains (because) that is where they belong," he said.
The justice secretary said the Batasan Five were the ones who sought to be placed under the custody of the House of Representatives when they felt that they might be arrested.
He assured the public that the DOJ would observe the rule of law in prosecuting the militant congressmen.
"They (Batasan Five) were the ones who sought sanctuary in the House. They went to University of the Philippines (UP), contacted the minority and majority floor leaders and asked the Speaker if they can seek sanctuary in the House and the Speaker agreed," Gonzalez said.
He said the decision of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to accommodate the Batasan Five created a lot of tension between De Venecia and the executive branch.
He said that everybody knows that when the Batasan Five sought sanctuary in the House, the DOJ sent prosecutors in Congress to inquest them.
"But they refused to be inquested and demanded a formal preliminary investigation and they said they will abide with the preliminary investigation. Because we agreed that we will no longer conduct the inquest they signed a waiver for their continued detention. I think these are all matters of record that I am saying. These are not manufactured or imagined allegations," he said.
Gonzalez said the DOJ pursued its preliminary investigation against the Batasan Five, but they did not submit to it and instead filed a motion to dismiss the rebellion complaint against them.
He said the motion to dismiss filed by the Batasan Five, being a prohibited pleading, was dismissed by the DOJ prosecution panel, prompting the left-leaning lawmakers to file a petition with the Court of Appeals (CA) seeking to stop the DOJ from conducting preliminary investigation.
Makati City RTC Judge Delorino, according to Gonzalez, erred in junking the DOJ’s amended information because she had no jurisdiction as the parties have yet to be arraigned..
"...When there are two cases (that are) identical and (with similar) parties), you can consolidate them. So, in effect, the amended information was consolidating these cases because we have the information against Crispin Beltran (Anakpawis party-list representative) and we are only amending the information because we cannot immediately join this case that we filed because a preliminary investigation was conducted against the Batasan Five. The preliminary investigation lasted for a time," Gonzalez said.
He said the DOJ will not insist that the court admit the amended information.
"We don’t have to insist on the amended information. We can just file a new one and ask for a consolidation. We can file a new information, not a new case, a new information and ask that it be consolidated with the case that was first filed," Gonzalez said.
He said the Batasan Five cannot declare that they are already off the hook on the rebellion case until "they are acquitted."
"Then you cannot revive the case because that will be double jeopardy. The moment we file the information and an arrest warrant is issued I don’t think they can benefit from congressional protection," Gonzalez said.
He maintained that since the Makati RTC has not acquitted the Batasan Five, the DOJ can refile the case because the evidence against them is strong.
"The moment the court accepts the new information, then the process will proceed," he said.
Gonzalez said the Batasan Five are liable under the principle of continuing crime and it is only a matter of getting the evidence against them before the courts.
Party-list reps march to freedom By Delon Porcalla The Philippine Star 05/09/2006
After taking refuge in the House of Representatives for more than two months, five left-wing lawmakers triumphantly walked out of the building yesterday. As a marching band blared, hundreds of followers cheered the so-called "Batasan Five" — party-list Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela and Rafael Mariano of Anak-pawis— who wore white and raised clenched fists as they emerged from the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez earlier said the five could return home without fear of arrest because the rebellion charges against them had been dropped. But their legal troubles may not be over. Gonzalez said government prosecutors were preparing to either appeal the rebellion charges or file new rebellion charges.
The Makati City regional trial court last Thursday dismissed rebellion charges against the five and more than 40 other people, including former senator Gregorio Honasan, rogue military officers and communist guerrilla leaders who were allegedly behind a failed coup plot that aimed to force President Arroyo from power last February. The court ruled that the charge sheet was full of factual errors, the latest in a series of legal blows against Mrs. Arroyo. Despite the court’s decision, Gonzalez at first insisted they still faced arrest if they step out of the building because the case was dismissed on a technicality and could be revived.
The House gave the besieged legislators protective custody within its premises. On Sunday, Gonzalez backed off and said police could not arrest the lawmakers unless the case against them flourishes in court. "We maintain that rebellion is a continuing crime and thus we can arrest them based on our evidence," he said.
He said he and members of a Cabinet security committee met and decided that the legislators could return home. Gonzalez said he would appeal the dismissal of the rebellion charges against the legislators in a few days. "They’re not in danger of being arrested. They can go home now," he told ABS-CBN television. Gonzalez told reporters he would not be party to political theater by sending police to arrest the five at this time. "I will not give them the satisfaction of getting the publicity that they want," he said.
Police officers who have been watching the Batasang Pambansa in the hope of catching the five lawmakers sneaking out were ordered by Philippine National Police chief Director General Arturo Lomibao last Sunday to end their stakeout following Gonzalez’s announcement. "We don’t want it said that we are too repressive," Gonzalez told reporters. Under the scorching sun and amid fluttering red flags of his Bayan Muna party, Ocampo clambered on top of a jeep and declared victory.
"This is the triumph of a militant and just stand for people’s rights which could never be trampled," Ocampo said. Casiño was embraced by his wife, son and siblings. "It was not the physical hardship because Congress is not really a prison," Casiño told The Associated Press by telephone. "It’s being vindicated, it’s winning this struggle. That’s the best feeling."
Casiño added he expected the Arroyo administration to continue harassing vocal opposition politicians with all sorts of trumped up lawsuits. They vowed to work for the release of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, who remains under police custody at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City for treatment of diabetes and a minor stroke. The rebellion charge against Beltran was also dismissed.
"With their ‘release’ from the threat of arrest by the Philippine National Police while under protective custody of the House of Representatives, my five colleagues will finally be able to campaign more freely for the issues facing the toiling masses as people’s parliamentarians, and for my immediate release from arbitrary and illegal detention," Beltran said in a statement issued to the press. The five boarded a long convoy of cars and passenger jeepneys carrying loved ones and other political activists en route to nearby University of the Philippines to celebrate over lunch.
Lawyer Romeo Capulong, who represents the lawmakers, said they would fight back with criminal and administrative charges against Gonzalez, Lomibao and a number of prosecutors for allegedly fabricating evidence against them and threatening them with illegal arrests.
"We will establish the conspiracy between the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police. They conspired in taking shortcuts to arrest them without warrants, subjected them to inquest and secured a commitment order without bail," he said. They want to "show the people that this would not be allowed to pass and committed again and again," Capulong said.
During their stay at the House premises, the five lawmakers turned a conference room in the building into their sleeping quarters, using sleeping bags on the cold carpeted floor. They posted security guards at the door in case police attempted to seize them during the night.
They stayed in their offices during the day to do legislative work and be with their families. Two celebrated their birthdays while confined in the House. Their families brought in fresh clothes and cooked food for them every day but it was a tough slog despite celebrating the 67th birthday of Ocampo, the oldest of the five, with a feast of roast pork and noodles.
"It’s really difficult to sleep outside your own home. Our three children missed their father a lot," said Lita Mariano, wife of Mariano. Mrs. Arroyo, who has faced widespread calls that she step down over vote-rigging and corruption allegations, issued Proclamation 1017 that declared a weeklong state of national emergency on Feb. 24 to quash the alleged coup.
Police carried out a string of arrests without warrants. Beltran was arrested but the other five took refuge in the House on Feb. 27 to avoid arrest on charges that they conspired with more than 40 other people in the alleged failed plot. They claimed parliamentary immunity and the House agreed to give them protection as long as they remained within the premises.
"We assert our innocence of the spurious charge of rebellion against us and some of our colleagues in the democratic mass movement," the five said in a statement. A number of other alleged right-wing conspirators, led by former senator and pardoned 1980s coup plotter Honasan, remain in hiding.
The former Philippine Army colonel is still facing separate charges that he inspired a 2003 mutiny of disgruntled military officers who seized a condominium and shopping complex in Makati City complaining of corruption in the military. Mrs. Arroyo’s crackdown sparked criticism from human rights groups and drew warnings from the legal left, which threatened to pursue their campaign underground. The military accuses the leftist parties of being fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has waged a Maoist insurgency for 37 years.
Meanwhile, Anakpawis said unidentified men had tossed a grenade at its local party headquarters Kidapawan City late Sunday, wounding two party members. A third party member, Benedicto Manaoag, was abducted by unknown men in Angeles City on Friday, it said. "The pattern of political suppression is all too clear and too obvious," the party said in a statement. "These incidents seem to be part of an orchestrated and systematic plot to harass Anakpawis members from further speaking out against the injustices of the Arroyo administration."
Mrs. Arroyo has suffered a series of legal setbacks in her effort to crack down on opponents. The latest came last week when the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional portions of Proclamation 1017. The court said Mrs. Arroyo’s crackdown on street protests, detainment of several people without charges and pressure on the media during the emergency declaration were illegal. Mrs. Arroyo, whose popularity plummeted following allegations that she cheated in the 2004 presidential election, has fended off repeated calls for her resignation. She fought off an impeachment bid in September and has since been locked in a protracted battle with the opposition. — With AP, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Jaime Laude
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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