Activist asks court to junk 2006 rebellion case

Detained activist Sally Crisostomo-Ujano has asked the Taguig regional trial court to quash a 2006 rebellion charge filed against her for which she was arrested in November or 15 years after it was filed.

Through her lawyers at Free Legal Assistance Group, Ujano argued that the information filed against her failed to state how she was involved with the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, New Peoples’ Army, much less act in conspiracy with them.

Ujano, 64, is currently detained at Camp Bagong Diwa after being arrested on Nov. 15, without ever receiving court summons since the rebellion charge was filed against her in 2006.

But Gen. Dionardo Carlos, chief of the Philippine National Police, claimed that Ujano was on the PNP’s most wanted list for more than 15 years, an allegation her family and friends scoffed at.

Ujano was executive director of Women’s Crisis Center from 2000 to 2007, and national coordinator of Philippines Against Child Trafficking from 2008 up to the present.

She trained the PNP and other government agencies to establish a rights-based approach in handling trafficking cases. —Krixia Subingsubing