SC rejects gov’t bid to free 10 jailed Red leaders

The Supreme Court rejected on Friday the government’s request to free 10 jailed communist leaders so they could attend peace talks scheduled later this month in Oslo, Norway, throwing an unexpected curve ball in Manila’s efforts at ending one of Asia’s deadliest and longest running insurgencies.

But the high court, in a resolution, said it posed no objection in allowing former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) panel members Randall B. Echanis and Vicente P. Ladlad to attend formal negotiations expected to resume in the fourth week of August.

The court issued the resolution following an urgent manifestation by Solicitor General Jose Calida, noting that President Duterte has already ordered the temporary release of several members of the NDFP under the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig).

The NDFP is the political wing of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and its armed unit, the New People’s Army (NPA).

The government requested the release of key members of the NDFP panel namely Tirso Alcantara, Alex Birondo, Winona Birondo, Maria Concepcion Bocala, Reynante Gamara, Alan Jazmines, Ma. Loida Magpatoc, Adelberto Silva, Benito and Wilma Tiamzon.

But the high court denied the request, saying it has no jurisdiction over the said individuals who are still facing criminal charges in various courts, including a multiple murder case in relation to the killing of 15 government spies in Leyte in 1985.

It said the cases were in “different stages” and granting conditional liberty to them “may have the inadvertent but irremediable effect of preempting the trial courts’ own determinations in the exercise of their original jurisdiction to try the cases before them.”

It said the appropriate pleading should be filed before the concerned regional trial courts.

“Needless to say, the concerned regional trial courts shall give utmost priority to the hearing of such motions and manifestations in view of the grave importance of peace to the Filipino people,” the court said.

“The relevance of the attendance and participation of the other personalities adverted to in the urgent manifestation and motion to the peace process are matters that must be brought before these courts,” it added.

Provisional liberty

In the case of Ladlad and Echanis, the high court said their provisional liberty shall only be for the purpose of their participation in the formal peace negotiations this month up to six months, or as soon as the peace negotiations are concluded or terminated, whichever is earlier.

“Once their participation ceases or the peace negotiations are terminated, their respective bonds shall be deemed automatically canceled,” said the SC resolution.

The high court said their provisional liberty shall continue to be secured by a P100,000 cash bond that is already posted with the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court.

It also required the two to provide Regional Trial Court of Manila, Branch 32, their contact details in the Philippines and in Norway, and report to the Embassy whenever required.

In the case of Baylosis, the high court forfeited his cash bond after he jumped bail.

Ocampo, Ladlad, Echanis and Baylosis are facing murder charges following the discovery of a mass grave in Leyte believed to be containing the remains of rebels who were suspected as military informers, in an internal purge called “Operation Venereal Disease.”

SC misinformed

But Ocampo, 77,  said the high court appeared to have been “confused and misinformed,” noting that he has been out on bail since 2007, though still facing trial at the Manila Regional Trial Court. He said Ladlad and Echanis have been likewise provisionally freed in cognizance of their role as rebel consultants.

“I’m not detained, not an NDFP consultant and not included in the solicitor general’s petition before the Supreme Court,” said Ocampo, the NDFP’s chief negotiator during talks with the late President Cory Aquino’s government that subsequently collapsed after police killed 13 farmers in what has come to be known as the Mendiola Massacre of 1987. He would later join Congress as a sectoral representative for three terms.

Bayan Muna secretary general Renato Reyes said all three were not known as top leaders, and have been in the legal struggle for a long time.

“The three are not known as ‘top Red leaders’ as if they are with the revolutionary underground,” Reyes said in an e-mail to the Inquirer.

NDFP welcomes SC order

He said Echanis and Ladlad were attending the peace talks as NDFP consultants and have worked for Anakpawis and Bayan Muna.

NDFP legal consultant Atty. Edre Olalia thanked the high court on behalf of Echanis and Ladlad, saying the order would lead to their “free and unhindered participation” in the talks.

The SC’s order is a “clear guidepost or signal and significant impetus for the latter’s possible eventual release,” Olalia said, referring to the jailed rebel consultants.

“We still hope the releases will be expedited despite the delays and that the process be made simpler,” Olalia said.

There are still 20 rebel consultants detained and facing charges in various criminal courts.

While the previous administration has denied the existence of any political prisoners, human rights group Karapatan said there remained at least 543 detained on allegedly false charges, 18 of whom were listed as NDFP peace consultants and therefore covered by immunity guarantees.

Bandits

President Duterte hit out at CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, who last week criticized the government for revoking a unilateral ceasefire following a rebel attack that left one progovernment militiaman dead and  four others wounded.

He described Sison—who had called Duterte a butangero (thug)—as frothing in the mouth even as he belittled the NPA as a weak organization that can’t even take over a village.

“These communists speak as if they are a force to reckon with, when as a matter of fact, they can’t even occupy a barangay (for) a single day,” Duterte told soldiers during a visit to Camp Peralta in Capiz.

He said the rebels only carried out ambush attacks, which he dismissed as a practice of bandits. With reports from Leila B. Salaverria, Gil C. Cabacungan and Kristine Felisse Mangunay/TVJ