Leftwing group protests revival of ‘trumped up’ rap
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Militants in Southern Tagalog are protesting the reopening of the murder case filed against 72 activists, collectively known as the “ST 72,” that has been dismissed by an Oriental Mindoro court three years ago.
The militants were reacting to a subpoena requiring the 72 activists to appear in a San Pablo City court to answer the same charges that had been dismissed by the Oriental Mindoro court.
The subpoena was issued by Elnora Nombrado, Southern Tagalog deputy regional prosecutor.
“They are resurrecting these trumped up charges,” said lawyer Noel Neri of the Pro-Labor Assistance Center and one of the legal counsels of the 72 activists.
Neri said he was informed that the provincial prosecutor in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, where the case originated, inhibited and transferred the case to Laguna in May.
The subpoena, dated May 20, “required” the activists to appear at the regional prosecutor’s office in San Pablo City on June 24 and to “submit counteraffidavit and (respond to) clarificatory questions.”
Neri, in a phone interview on Thursday, said he and his clients have not yet received an official copy of the subpoena. He said, however, that he and his clients would appear at the prosecutor’s office in San Pablo on June 24.
In November 2008, 72 activists, including human rights and labor lawyer Remigio Saladero Jr., were charged with the March 3, 2006, ambush staged by the New People’s Army (NPA) against policemen in Calapan City.
Saladero and six others—Nestor San Jose, Crispin Zapanta, Rogelio Galit, Arnaldo Seminiano, Emmanuel Dionida and Leonardo Arceta—were arrested but released after the Regional Trial Court in Calapan dismissed the case in February 2009 over technicalities.
Neri said he filed a petition at the Court of Appeals to have the case thrown away because the charges were trumped up.
In a statement, the militant women’s group Gabriela called the reopening of the case a “clear attack on the constitutional and legal rights” of the 72 activists.
