Army slammed for calling 4 activists ‘terrorists’

SHOW OF SUPPORT Members of militant groups stage a rally in front of the Cabanatuan City Justice Hall on Friday to protest the cases filed against four activists, including Bayan Muna secretary general Nathanael Santiago, over their alleged involvement in a clash with government soldiers in Nueva Ecija last year. —ARMAND GALANG

CABANATUAN CITY—ACT Teachers party list Rep. France Castro and some former legislators on Friday renewed calls for the junking of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) as they rallied behind the filing of a counter-affidavit on behalf of four activists who were labeled as terrorists by the military.

The activists and their supporters gathered in front of the Cabanatuan Justice Hall to assail the ATA, which they said was “abused” by the Philippine Army to justify the complaints it filed against Bayan Muna secretary general Nathanael Santiago and three others in the Nueva Ecija provincial prosecutor’s office last year.

Complaints for violation of the provisions of the ATA or Republic Act No. 11479, specifically Sections 4a (causing death or serious bodily injury) and 4d (possession of weapons and explosives), were lodged against Santiago, Ansusa San Gabriel, Rosario Brenda Gonzalez and Servillano “Jun” Luna Jr.

These stemmed from a reported encounter between soldiers from the Army’s 84th Infantry Battalion (IB) and suspected members of Kilusang Larangang Gerilya-Sierra Madre (KLG-SM) in Barangay San Fernando, Laur town in Nueva Ecija, on Oct. 8 last year.

Santiago’s group was also accused of attempted murder, murder and attack on civilians under Republic Act No. 9851, or the domestic law on the International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Gonzalez is a convener of Scent, an organization involved in development work, while San Gabriel is a church lay worker who volunteers for the Bulacan Ecumenical Forum and is engaged in human rights and environmental advocacy.

Luna, on the other hand, is the campaign director and former secretary general of Anakpawis party list.

They were represented by lawyer Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers during the filing of the counter-affidavit.

First Lt. Michael Regalario of the Army’s 84th IB filed the complaints against the activists last year, according to a case briefer from ACT.

Santiago and the three militant leaders were named among the 20 people that the soldiers allegedly identified during the encounter that left one dead. It was not immediately known if the fatality was a civilian or one of the government soldiers.

Indicted

On Jan. 19, the investigating prosecutor recommended the indictment of all respondents for ATA and the dismissal of attempted murder and murder complaints on the ground that “the complainants failed to ascribe the acts to any of the respondents, and that they failed to establish conspiracy,” the Inquirer learned.

The prosecutor also recommended dismissal of IHL charges for the alleged failure of the complainants to establish the act as a violation of IHL.

But Cortez said the respondents were not informed of their cases then, as summons were addressed somewhere in Aurora province while his clients were based in Metro Manila.

This prompted them to file a petition for reinvestigation. They were allowed to file counteraffidavit on Friday.

Castro said they wanted to belie charges against the four activists through the filing of the counter-affidavit.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said Santiago was at a meeting on the day the encounter broke out. He said reports indicated that the clash happened at night.

Facial recognition?

Cortez also assailed allegations that the complainant saw Santiago and the three other activists during the firefight and were able to identify them because they were shown photographs of suspected KLG-SM members in the operating area prior to the operation.

“They (the military) said the encounter happened in a remote area and [they were] far. So it’s impossible [for facial recognition], and the Supreme Court has made many decisions stating that such identification is impossible, in the context of an ambush or military encounter,” Cortez said.

The lawyer added: “In a military encounter, the first thing to consider is how to avoid bullets and how to fire back.”

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño also joined the rally and called for the scrapping of ATA.