Ludicrous charges against Good Samaritans

Letters .

BEFORE throwing the book at our client Saturnino Ocampo and 17 others, better read it first. The charges against Ka Satur are so ludicrous, there is no way these will survive reasonable judicial or public scrunity.

Ka Satur, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro, and the others who were part of the National Solidarity Mission in Talaingod, Davao del Norte had no intention to abuse, kidnap, or, more thoughtlessly, traffic the children. They had, in fact, responded to the “cry of the needy”, the call of the Salugpongan schools for rescue in the midst of forcible closure and embargo by the army and allied paramilitary.

Child abuse, the charge during the inquest on Thursday, contends that there was maltreatment of children. On the converse, by apprehending the convoy of the children, their teachers and aiders, by also detaining and traumatizing the children, it was the police who endangered the life, safety and normal development of the children.

The police ought to rethink how to best safeguard the rights of the lumad. Why come after those carrying books and food supplies to teach and feed, when they should go after the paramilitary with guns and batons who terrorize and maim the lumad?

As soon as the courts open, we will exert all legal remedies to correct the situation and the narrative: that Ka Satur was just trying to help the beleaguered lumad students in Talaingod.

Over the past 40 years, 10 other persecution cases against Ka Satur have been dismissed and junked in court. We are confident he can also shrug off the present criminal charges, baseless as they are.

The arrogant display of power, in a territory under Martial Law, is a lame, ugly political stunt that will boomerang on the individual policemen and the image of the PNP in general. Know that the unlawful arrest of Ka Satur and his companions will not be without consequences. – Atty. Rachel F. Pastores managing counsel, Public Interest Law Center (counsel for Ocampo)

Imelda’s Privilege

AT first glance, the recent Sandiganbayan decision granting bail and providing remedies for Imelda Marcos, despite their guilty verdict on the graft charges against her, may seem like an act that respects the right to due process. But placed in a context where due process is a concept repeatedly tampled by the Duterte regime, the remedies granted to Imelda Marcos by the Sandiganbayan reek of outrageous privilege or entitlement and plain double standard given to persons who have bled the country’s coffers dry.

Indeed, the laws are in your favor when you have money and power, especially when you’re a world class plunderer and murderer like the Marcoses. The absurdity in the current laws and procedures enable Imelda Marcos to file bail of P300,000 despite a conviction on charges of skimming billions from public funds, while the same set of laws impose P1.4 million bail for Satur Ocampo, France Castro, and 12 others on purely fabricated charges of child abuse. The same set of laws and procedures enable Imelda Marcos to avoid jail time, by giving her a chance to appeal the conviction ruling in the Supreme Court where she can almost surely get a favorable decision with a pro-Marcos Chief Justice, while the same set of laws dictate that political prisoners including peace advocate Vicente Ladlad should remain detained on fabricated charges based on planted evidence.

Indeed, under Duterte, the so-called rule of law has become a travesty to the moral and political understanding of human rights and people’s rights. It has become the rule of those who break and distort the laws for their greedy, power-hungry interests. – Karapatan