Inquirer files
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two dozen members of a nongovernment organization (NGO) are facing trial for allegedly providing financial and logistical services to communist rebels.
Judge Marlon Jay Moneva of the Regional Trial Court Branch 74 in Cebu City has set the first trial of the case on Feb. 4, 2025.
Each accused posted a bail of P200,000 to secure temporary liberty while the case was being heard.
Last May, the Department of Justice ordered the filing of charges in court against 27 members of the Community Empowerment Resource Network, Inc. (Cernet) for violating Republic Act No. 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
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Lawyer Estrella Catarata, one of the accused in the case, said three of her coaccused were, however, already dead at the time when the complaint was lodged by the government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), bringing the number of the accused to 24.
Those named in the complaint were accused of delivering P135,000 to the South Eastern Front group of the National People’s Army (NPA) in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, in 2012.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines Visayas Command (Viscom) had claimed that Cernet, which was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a nonprofit organization, has long been utilized by the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA as a front for its fund generation scheme since 2001.
False claim
“In order for [communist rebels] to sustain their atrocities and operations, they do not just rely on the money collected from the extortion activities, but they have mastered their fund generation scheme legally through the creation of NGOs,” it said in an earlier statement.
Catarata denied the accusations, saying they were never involved in any move to support the communist group and that the filing of a complaint against them was a form of persecution to vilify the cause and mission of the organization.
“We are compliant to all legal requirements of the government, and we are very religious in acting our policies and rules. All that was presented against us was only testimonial evidence. There were no documents to prove their allegations,” she said in a press conference in Cebu City on Dec. 16.
Catarata previously served as executive director of the Farmer’s Development Center (Fardec), an NGO based in Cebu City advocating for land rights and sustainable food production.
In 2001, Fardec was one of the nine humanitarian and development NGOs from Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental that formed the Cernet network.
Catarata was a board officer of Cernet until 2013 and is now the executive director of Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya, Inc., another nonprofit NGO providing community-based renewable energy systems to marginalized communities.
Cernet, which is based in Cebu City and active in the Visayas, works alongside marginalized groups to promote economic, social and cultural rights in their communities by providing small project funds to grassroots initiatives.
Cernet, she said, has been the target of unfounded accusations of supporting the communist insurgency in the country for several years.
Its members have faced harassment and intimidation allegedly perpetrated by state security forces since 2006.
Escalated attacks
The attacks escalated in 2008 when charges were filed against Cernet’s executive director and finance officer, which were subsequently dismissed in 2009.
But according to Catarata, the “persecution” continued after the dismissal of the case.
She said the group was relentlessly Red-tagged by state security forces affiliated with the NTF-Elcac until a criminal complaint was filed against its 27 members in 2023 for allegedly supporting the communist group.
Catarata was also tagged by the Cebu City Police Office as the most wanted person in Central Visayas in 2024—a claim she described as “false disinformation.”
‘Mental anguish’
Cernet has been studying filing counter charges against state forces that have hurled baseless accusations against them.
Last Aug. 29, Catarata said the United Nations Special Rapporteur has asked the government, particularly the Office of the President, to look into the case involving Cernet but Malacañang has yet to respond.
“The accusations against Cernet have caused so much mental anguish. We got so scared. We are in distress. Depression sets in, and our family members are suffering. This [case]has brought chilling effects to all NGO workers, not just Cernet. Other NGOs are also afraid,” she said.