‘Ka Memay’
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Ilocos Sur, however, countered the statement of Principe questioning the practice of her profession as a paramedic.
“She had no reason as to why she was in the place of the camps of the rebels and she never gave any reason why she had to render medical services and educate people in the said places as she was never employed by the Government,” the CIDG counter to the counter-affidavit said.
The CIDG also claimed Principe was a member of the CPP-NPA-NDFP and that her nom-de-guerre is Ka Memay. The statement also accused Leo Velasco, Principe’s missing husband, of being the CPP-NPA’s highest-ranking “organ cadre”.
Cardenas’ resolution noted that the statements of Maguinsay, Basingit and Jallorina were reviewed. It stated that the evidence against Principe were “presumed” and not “actual” evidence. Such became the basis of the dismissal of the rebellion charge against Principe.
Principe, 58, a peace process consultant of the NDFP and a paramedic by profession, was abducted last year by military intelligence personnel while on her way to a medical check. The military and police also implicated her in the Manila Peninsula stand-off last November.
Hope for release
Lorena Santos, daughter of Elizabeth Principe and Leo Velasco and currently the spokesperson of Free Elizabeth Principe and Surface Leo Velasco Task Force, welcomed the decision of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
“I am deeply relieved to know that my mother’s rebellion case in Candon is finally dismissed,” Santos said in a text message.
Santos said this dismissal is a first step for her mother’s release. “This gives my family hope that my mother will be set free as well as other political prisoners,” she said. (Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat)
