MANILA – The Municipal Trial Court of Plaridel Bulacan dismissed the grave oral defamation case against environmental defenders Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano on June 4, Thursday.

MTC Presiding Judge Sheila Marie S. Geronimo-Orquillas granted the motion to quash information filed by Castro and Tamano. The judge said that the facts submitted by the complainants do not constitute an offense and said that the two were only telling the truth on the day that they were presented to the media. 

To recall, the Department of Justice recommended to press charges of grave oral defamation against Castro and Tamano after they revealed in a press conference organized by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) that they were abducted by soldiers and denied access to lawyers and their loved ones for 17 days. They were abducted on Sept. 2, 2023 and surfaced on Sept. 19, 2023. The NTF-ELCAC presented them to the public as “rebel surrenderers.” 

Read: ‘State agents may be involved in the abduction of 2 envi defenders,’ probe reveals
Read: 2 environmental activists defy military, expose abduction

Environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment welcomed what they described as a “timely and symbolic decision” by Judge Geronimo-Orquillas on the day that World Environment Day is being observed globally. They added that the decision is “a clear legal affirmation of what the people have long known: the case was a desperate attempt to cover up a brazen abduction and silence two courageous young women who dared to speak the truth.” 

“This court victory exposes the case for what it truly was: a desperate maneuver to cover up state-perpetrated abduction and to intimidate those who resist,” the group said in a statement. 

According to Geronimo-Orquillas, nothing in the information submitted by the military would support the idea that the statements made by the two “were prompted by ill-will or spite to injure the reputation of Lt. Col. Dela Cruz nor the Armed Forces of the Philippines since their statements were nothing but the truth and were made to shed light and seek justice for the ordeal they have experienced.”

Geronimo-Orquillas said that Castro and Tamano’s statements were “narration of actual events that took place when both accused went missing which were uttered in good faith and with justifiable motives since the accused only did the same out of their desire to be freed from undue restraints and their harrowing ordeal.”

As such, Geronimo-Orquillas said there was no malice in the statements made by Castro and Tamano during the press conference on Sept. 19, 2023. 

Castro and Tamano’s lawyer was also elated with the court’s decision. 

“It’s a good day for human rights in the Philippines today,” human rights lawyer and Castro and Tamano’s counsel, Dino de Leon of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) said in his post via Meta.  

“After Jhed and Jonila suffered enforced disappearance and told the truth behind their ordeal in an NTF-ELCAC press conference, this was the retaliatory case against them. Instead of receiving assistance, they were further persecuted. No credible and thorough investigation was done by the State to ensure that their abductors will face justice,” de Leon added. 

Kalikasan meanwhile demands that the perpetrators in the said case be held accountable. 

“Repressive agencies like NTF-ELCAC must be abolished, and destructive reclamation, other extractive projects, and militarization must come to an end,” the group said. (RVO)