Still no witnesses vs activist detained for 11 years; judge to issue resolution

The issue of whether Eduardo Serrano—a farmers’ rights activist in detention for over 11 years now—is the Rogelio Villanueva accused of being behind the killing of four soldiers has been submitted for resolution.

“The right of the prosecution to adduce evidence that Serrano and Villanueva are one and the same person is hereby considered waived,” Judge Marilou Runes-Tamang of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 said in an order Thursday. This was after the prosecution witnesses failed to show up in court.

Villanueva or Ka Makling is one of the accused in the 2003 ambush that left four Army soldiers dead in Oriental Mindoro.

Serrano, a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, was arrested in May 2004 in Batangas province and presented by the military as Villanueva. Previous motions to dismiss the case on the basis that he is not Villanueva were denied until the Court of Appeals ordered the lower court to resolve the issue of his identity.

The judge, who inherited the case when she took over in June, cited in her order the “length of time that the case has been pending in court with the issue of identity still unresolved to the prejudice of the person in detention.” Serrano, 62, is in the custody of the Philippine National Police.

Members of the human rights group Karapatan staged a protest in front of the Quezon City Hall of Justice against the filing of false charges against Serrano and other political prisoners.

Among them was Andrea Rosal, daughter of the late New People’s Army spokesperson Ka Roger Rosal. She was recently released from jail after the cases against her were dismissed.

In an order on Aug. 26, Judge Tamang warned the prosecution that should the complaining witnesses

—1Lt. Alex Ampati, Sgt. Berling Farinas and Pfc. Gilbert Turingan—fail to present evidence, the issue on identity would be submitted for resolution.

The prosecution witnesses have not been attending any hearing since the Quezon City court took over the case eight years ago, she noted.

Serrano took the witness stand and the court accepted the documents he presented to prove his identity such as his birth certificate, college diploma, marriage certificate and photographs. The court said it would issue a resolution on Oct. 13.