Rights groups refute Esperon claims of illegal activities

Progressive groups lambasted National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.’s for saying that they are lying to the public.

Esperon alleged that the rights group had been lying to the public about the legality of their activities in the country.

“Some, in fact, had misled foreign funding institutions into giving foreign grants and donations to support their supposed cause, but were instead diverted to the CPP/NPA/NDF in furtherance of the latter’s communist terrorist objectives,” he claimed.

Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Karapatan refute the claim of Esperon, “We stand by our attestation made in good faith and borne out of diligence that they are true and correct based on our own personal knowledge and/or based on authentic records. We do not have any intent to falsify, manufacture or misrepresent anything even on such microscopic technicalities and minute procedural points. The cynical claim of perjury by a national security adviser deflects on the more fundamental matters and transcendental issues in our petition.” she said.

This comes after progressive groups filed a petition for writ of Amparo and habeas data before the Supreme Court last May. The petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court, citing that the petition and documents submitted did not fulfill the evidentiary standard to establish that petitioners’ right to life, liberty, security, and privacy were violated or threatened.

On July 2, Esperon filed a complaint accusing the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) – an organization of religious and lay persons doing community-based activities – of issuing false statements in their writs of Amparo and habeas data petition against several government officials. Secretary Esperon said that, contrary to RMP’s claims that it is a duly registered organization, a certification issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission dated April 15 attested to the fact that the RMP’s Certificate of Registration was revoked on Aug. 20, 2003, for its failure to submit the required General Information Sheets and Financial Statements from 1997 to 2002. The revocation took effect on Sept. 29, 2003.

However, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), refuted the claims of Secretary Esperon.

“As far as we know, we have filed for the renewal of our registration in 2010 and we have documents to prove that the SEC received them. From then on, we have been submitting our General Information Sheet and Audited Financial Statements. For him to say that we have not is a blatant lie,“ the group said in a statement. (davaotoday.com)