Ilocos Sur court acquits activist of soldier’s murder

BAGUIO CITY—A court in Ilocos Sur on Wednesday acquitted an activist of murder and frustrated murder charges filed by the military against her for the killing of a government soldier and the wounding of several others in an alleged encounter in 2017.

In a 25-page decision, Judge Mario Anacleto Bañez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 25 in Tagudin town, Ilocos Sur, said there was a “reasonable doubt” that Rachel Mariano participated in the supposed encounter between New People’s Army rebels and Army troops in Quirino, Ilocos Sur, on Oct. 15, 2017.

Killed during the encounter was Pfc. Peter John Villanueva. A number of government soldiers were reportedly wounded.

“The court has found that the [pieces of evidence] leveled against her (Mariano) are insufficient and doubtful to sustain such verdict. Her acquittal is therefore imperative,” Bañez said.

Inconsistent

Mariano had voluntarily submitted herself to court and was jailed for almost a year during the trial for the cases filed against her by the Army’s 81st Infantry Battalion.

During the trial, government soldiers who survived the encounter took the witness stand and pointed to Mariano as the one who fired at them.

Legitimate work

But the court found the statements of the Army witnesses to be “inconsistent.” “From the prosecution witnesses’ account, even the number of the persons who fired at them was not established,” Bañez said.

On its website, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance said Mariano’s acquittal was a “clear manifestation of the legitimacy of the work done by activists and development workers.”

Mariano had worked with the health unit of Baguio City-based Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC), a network of nongovernment organizations advocating for the right to self-determined development for Cordillera people.

According to CDPC, Mariano is among Ibaloy activists working for free health services and the end to large-scale mining in the Cordillera. —KIMBERLIE QUITASOL