MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City court has dismissed the illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges filed against National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Esterlita Suaybaguio, who was arrested on Aug. 26, 2019, in a police raid in her condominium unit in Quezon City, where police claimed to have found a 9mm caliber pistol, a hand grenade and ammunition.
“The accused is acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt in the consolidated criminal cases,” Judge Janet Abergos-Samar of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 219 wrote in her decision on Friday.
At the time of her arrest, Suaybaguio was a women’s rights advocate and the campaign coordinator of Gabriela Metro Manila. But police claimed she was a high-ranking communist leader in Southern Mindanao.