QC court acquits ‘Red-tagged’ man jailed since 2004

A QUEZON City court acquitted peasant leader Eduardo Serrano of murder charges on Thursday, a month after another judge said that the military had illegally detained him for more than 11 years.

Serrano, a peace process consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), has been in jail since 2004 after the military arrested him and accused him of being a communist rebel who used the name Rogelio Villanueva.

On Thursday, Judge Editha Mina-Aguba of Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC-RTC) Branch 100 ruled there was not enough evidence to convict Serrano for the July 4, 2000, ambush in Oriental Mindoro province that killed eight policemen and wounded several others.

“It was not established beyond an iota of doubt that the accused (in whatever name he is known) was there at the place of the incident and one of those combatants or leaders,” Aguba said in her decision.

Last month, Judge Marilou Runes-Tamang of QC-RTC Branch 98, who was hearing another case of multiple murder against Serrano, issued a ruling saying he was not Villanueva and had the case archived.

Two more cases are still pending in the Quezon City courts against Serrano, both identifying him as Villanueva.

“We appeal to QC-RTC Branches 215 and 97 to immediately resolve these cases to bring home Serrano for Christmas,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

Palabay said Serrano’s acquittal puts into question the other “trumped-up” charges that the military had filed against political prisoners, specially NDFP consultants.