In his reinvestigation report dated May 24, Prosecution Attorney James Noel V. Morente stated, “After a careful perusal of the records of this case, this office is constrained to dismiss the instant complaint for lack of probable cause against the aforementioned accused-movants.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Human rights group Karapatan urged a local Tagum court to dismiss murder charges against six human rights workers following a prosecutor’s report showing lack of evidence against the accused.
In his reinvestigation report dated May 24, Prosecution Attorney James Noel V. Morente stated, “After a careful perusal of the records of this case, this office is constrained to dismiss the instant complaint for lack of probable cause against the aforementioned accused-movants.”
The charges pertain to the alleged murder of Garito Tiklonay Malibato, a member of Karadyawan, an organization of indigenous peoples in Kapalong, Davao del Norte on March 22, 2018. Police Major Ruth Dizon, chief of the Kapalong Muncipal Police Station, filed the complaint two years after the incident.
Accused are Jackie Valencia, Karapatan’s national council member, Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) Chairperson Windel Farag-ey Bolinget, Agnes Mesina of Makabayan Cagayan Valley, Reynaldo Garneng of Danggayan to Mannalon ti Cagayan Valley, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s Lutgardo Jurcales, Jr. and Albert Mandin of Davao City.
Prosecutor Morente said that based on the submitted affidavits and evidence, the accused were able to prove that they were at some other place at the time of the commission of the crime, and that it was physically impossible for them to be at the place of the crime or within its immediate vicinity.”
Jurcales said that on March 22, 2018, he was in a forum at the University of the Philippines Campus in Quezon City.
Valencia, Mesina and Gameng meanwhile are all residents of Northern Luzon.
“Due to the physical impossibility and the difficulty of traveling from Northern Luzon to Mindanao, it was highly unlikely for them to have participated in the alleged killing of Malibato,” Morente’s report read.
Karapatan and CPA welcomed the reinvestigation report.
“With the prosecution’s report on reinvestigation, there is no denying that the murder charge lodged against Jackie Valencia and other activists and human rights defenders is pure hogwash,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.
“This case is clearly based on fabricated testimonies from the police and whose sole purpose is to harass the accused. A case that is shamelessly based on lies is a mockery of judicial processes and should be dismissed by courts,” Palabay added.
With this, Palabay said the Regional Trial Court, Branch 30 in Tagum City should urgently heed the findings and prayers of the prosecution in their reinvestigation report. (RVO) 
