Groups denounce DND perjury raps vs two activists

DND Sec. Gilberto Teodoro Jr. during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay, October 18, 2023. | PHOTO: INQUIRER.net / Arnel Tacson

Environmental and human rights groups on Tuesday denounced the Department of National Defense’s (DND) filing of perjury charges against anti-reclamation activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro.

During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum on Oct. 18, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. called the two activists “liars” after they revealed to the press they were abducted by the military and then forced into signing affidavits of surrender after supposedly leaving the communist movement.

“I reviewed the case personally and I am convinced that they were liable,” Teodoro said. Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said the charges filed against Tamano and Castro were a “form of judicial harassment against victims of human rights violations.”

“The claims in the perjury complaint against the two young women are fraught with lies, absurdities and inanities that are so incredible and inconsistent that any independent body can see through them,” she added.

Palabay said the harassment of the two activists was “desperate moves” by their accusers “who cannot bear the thought of their own scheme blowing up in their faces.”

Meanwhile, militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya criticized the DND for “picking” on Castro and Tamano amid the more pressing threats to national security and territorial waters.

Pamalakaya along with Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment and the Promotion of Church People’s Response trooped the Department of Justice on Tuesday to accompany Tamano and Castro for a hearing on their perjury case. INQ