By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
SAN PABLO CITY, Laguna – Rosenda Lemita could not hold back her tears as she signed her petition for review of the resolution dismissing her earlier murder complaint against police officers involved in the killing of her daughter, Ana Mariz “Chai” Lemita-Evangelista and son-in-law Ariel Evangelista, August 4.
Chai Lemita and Ariel Evangelista were fisherfolk leaders in their community in Hacienda Looc, Nasugbu, Batangas province. They were two of the nine victims of the simultaneous police and military operations across the Calabarzon province last March 7, 2021, dubbed infamously as the Bloody Sunday Massacre.
Read: Chai Lemita-Evangelista, youth leader and community organizer
Read: ‘Perpetrators of Bloody Sunday went for the kill, says expert
Human rights group Defend Southern Tagalog hopes that the latest Petition for Review could be granted, “to show that the Department of Justice actually understands the meaning of justice.”
Read: ‘Lemita family will continue to pursue justice’ – lawyers
Last May 29, the DOJ dismissed the murder complaint against the 17 police officers involved in the murder, citing a lack of merit. The DOJ also denied a motion for reconsideration to reopen the case last July 20.
Expressing discontent at the DOJ’s decisions, Defend Southern Tagalog claimed in a statement that “the DOJ has now repeatedly ignored witnesses’ accounts and the National Bureau of Investigation’s findings that the police officers and personnel had a deliberate intent to kill the Evangelista couple.”
Defend ST also noted that the warrant used by the police officers to justify their operation was signed by Manila Regional Trial Court judge Jason Zapanta and should have “no jurisdiction in Batangas.”
A similar trend can be seen in other Bloody Sunday cases. Last January, the DOJ also junked the murder complaint filed against 17 police officers involved in the murder of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Cavite spokesperson Manny Asuncion. According to the DOJ, there was a lack of evidence to support the claim that the police officers acted with irregularity that day.
Despite mechanisms like the DOJ’s Administrative Order 35, meant to investigate highly political cases, Defend ST has noted “serious weaknesses” in implementation. According to the group, AO 35 did not cover the killings of indigenous Dumagat Edward and Abner Esto and Randy and Puroy Dela Cruz because “the DOJ deemed the case as not politically-motivated,” despite their active opposition to the Kaliwa-Kanan-Laiban Dam project and other environmentally destructive projects near their community in Tanay, Rizal province.
Defend ST also stated that there are no updates on the cases of Melvin Dasigao and Mark Lee Bacasno, urban poor community organizers who were killed in Rodriguez, Rizal.
Despite this, supporters have yet to lose hope that justice can be served. Defend ST noted that in the two years since the Bloody Sunday killings, “small victories have been achieved in safeguarding human rights.”
These include moves by the Supreme Court to limit the Manila and Quezon City courts’ power to issue search warrants outside of their jurisdiction, and the dismissal of charges against two of the six activists arrested as part of the Bloody Sunday raids, paralegal Nimfa Lanzanas and unionist Ramir Corcolon.
Should Lemita’s petition be granted, Defend ST says that it will be a “concrete step in achieving a semblance of justice for Chai and Ariel,” while noting that “true justice can only be served when the basic problems of our society are solved, and genuine peace can only be achieved if we fight for it.” (RVO) 
