Police undecided
what case to file vs Beltran
Anakpawis (Toiling
Masses) Party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran was invited by elements of the
Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in the morning of February
25, the day after the issuance of Proclamation No. 1017. When Beltran and
his escorts arrived at Camp Crame, he was arrested by virtue of a 1985
warrant for a case filed during the Marcos dictatorship.
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If the police really believed they were conducting a legal arrest, why in
the first place did they arrest him first and showed the warrant later? As
it turned out, however, the 1985 case was already dismissed. When
Beltran’s lawyers led by Atty. Romeo Capulong pointed this out to the
police, the latter immediately filed an inciting to sedition case.
Capulong raised the
question of Beltran’s parliamentary immunity in cases with a penalty of
not more than six years. The penalty for sedition, if found guilty, is six
years and below. A subsequent decision by Judge
Evangeline Castillo-Marigomen
of the Quezon City Court March 13
confirmed Capulong’s assertions.
|
UNWANTED LIST:
Activists show the people’s
version of the “rogue gallery” the Arroyo administration plans to post
all over the country |
Instead of releasing
Beltran, however, the Philippine National Police (PNP) filed a rebellion
case. It conducted an ambush inquest at Camp Crame. When Beltran and
Capulong tried to walk out of the inquest because of the absurdity of the
proceedings, the police surrounded them and practically held them up.
Is it so difficult
for the PNP to decide what case to file? The police clearly file one case
after another against Beltran so that he can continue to languish in jail.
Absurd evidences,
witnesses vs Beltran et al
Another absurdity in
the cases filed against Beltran is the supposed basis and witnesses.
The sedition case was
based on a speech supposedly delivered by Beltran during a rally at the
EDSA Shrine last February 24. It may be recalled that the police dispersed
the protesters then at around 12 noon, and that Beltran came in late and
never had the chance to give a speech.
The rebellion case
was based on the accounts of two supposed eyewitnesses. The first claimed
he saw Beltran, with Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casino, and
Joel Virador of Bayan Muna (People First), Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis,
and Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Party, attending a plenum of the
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 2002. The six were elected in
2001 and has been conducting their duties as legislators ever since.
The other witness
claimed he was defecating when he supposedly saw the six representatives
in the company of Magdalo officer Lt. Lawrence San Juan. The most recent
of these incredible witnesses was a certain Jaime Fuentes who was
presented covering his face with a polo shirt, reminiscent of the
Makapili, informers of the Japanese occupation army in the Philippines
who covered their head with bayong (straw bag). In his affidavit,
Fuentes claimed that six party-list representatives, six other
personalities connected with the abovementioned party lists and six mass
leaders are affiliated with the CPP. The mass leaders belonged to the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), Kilusang
Mayo Uno (KMU or May 1st Movement), Kilusang Magbubukid ng
Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and Gabriela.
Ocampo, Casino,
Virador, Mariano, and Maza had to secure the protective custody of the
House of Representatives to avoid warrantless arrest. The police are just
outside the gates of the House of Representatives, ready to arrest them
once they step out. On what basis? A rebellion charge, which is still in
the process of preliminary investigation. No arrest warrants therefore
have been issued against them.
Repression in
March
Last March 8, the
police physically removed Akbayan (Shoulder to shoulder) Representative
Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel during a rally at Welcome Rotonda. When reminded
that they were violating her parliamentary immunity, the police responded
that they were merely protecting her. Protecting her from what?
Ten days after (March
18), the police arrested former Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman
while walking at the Baywalk in Manila with 30 others. The police argued
that they arrested Soliman because her group was wearing t-shirts with the
words “Patalsikin na. Now Na!” (Oust Now) printed on it. Even if they did
not have any streamers and placards, Soliman was charged with illegal
assembly. Since when has walking at Baywalk and wearing a t-shirt with a
political slogan been prohibited?
The Arroyo
administration has offered reward money for information leading to the
arrest of former Sen. Gringo Honasan, retired Capt. Felix Turingan, among
others. The PNP is planning to include personalities from the legal and
underground left in a rogue gallery, a poster of “wanted” persons,
reminiscent of the Wild, Wild, West. Shouldn’t there be due process
especially when those concerned are not yet convicted of any crime?
Monkeying around
The PNP is acting
with impunity making a mockery of the justice system. At the same time,
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is on a killing spree trying to
eliminate progressives in the provinces outside of the National Capital
Region. And the prosecutors of the DOJ are going along with it even if
they surely know that the processes are fundamentally wrong.
Worse, Justice Sec.
Raul Gonzales, is making a parody of the justice system by legitimizing
the authoritarian acts of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In doing so, the DOJ is
turning itself into a kangaroo court. Since a kangaroo is foreign to the
Philippines, unggoy-unggoyan (monkeying around) may be a more
appropriate term.
The latest survey of
Pulse Asia shows that 65 percent of the population wants Arroyo removed
from Malacańang. If majority of the population moves for her removal, does
this mean that the DOJ will charge them with rebellion? Who is committing
a criminal act – the 65 percent or probably even just a few hundreds of
thousands of people acting collectively for the removal of Macapagal-Arroyo,
or Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts who are monkeying around with the
justice system in a desperate effort to cling to power?
Will all the judges
and justices from the lower courts up to the Supreme Court allow the
Arroyo administration to use and abuse them? If not, then there is still
some semblance of justice in this land. But in the final analysis, it is
the majority of the Filipino people, perhaps this 65 percent, who are in
the best position to exact and institute justice in the country.
Bulatlat
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