DOJ files inciting to sedition charges against Ong

Former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director Samuel Ong was charged by the Department of Justice yesterday with inciting to sedition before the Makati City Metropolitan Trial Court.

State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco told reporters they had found probable cause to indict Ong for violating Article 142 of the Revised Penal Code and pertinent provisions of the Code of Professional Responsibility.

Velasco said he had recommended a P12,000 bail for the temporary liberty of Ong.

If found guilty, he added, Ong could be placed on probation because the maximum punishment for inciting to sedition is only six years.

Velasco said Ong also violated his lawyer’s oath when, at a press conference last June 10 in a Makati hotel, he blamed President Arroyo for the corruption and grave poverty facing the country.

Velasco said Ong, in conspiracy with other people, aimed to incite the people to rise up against the President of the Republic.

"The purpose of Attorney Ong was clear. He, in conspiracy with other people, wanted to incite the people to rise up against the President of the Republic by misleading them into believing that the President alone should be held responsible for the country’s poverty and corruption," he said.

Velasco said under the "dangerous tendency" rule, inciting to sedition occurs when the words uttered or published could easily produce dissatisfaction among the people and a state of feeling in them incompatible with a disposition to remain loyal to the government and obedient to its laws.

"If the words used tend to create a danger of public uprising, then those words could properly be the subject of a penal clause," he said.

Velasco said when Ong blamed the President for the corruption and poverty in the country and called on the military to oust Mrs. Arroyo as its Commander-in-Chief, he tended to undermine the security of the government and weaken public confidence in it.

"Said utterance undeniably tended, as it actually did, to disturb and obstruct the President in executing the functions of her office," he said.

"Said utterance was scurrilous under the law. It is totally unfair for Attorney Ong to blame the President alone for the poverty and corruption in the country."

Velasco said it was "public knowledge" that the ills cited by Ong date back to the country’s colonial and post-colonial period.

"Additionally, our present socio-political-economic structure, the unequal trade relations among the developed and developing countries, our huge foreign debt, and the Filipinos’ colonial mentality, among other things, likewise contribute to the country’s poverty," he said.

"Attorney Ong knows this too well, being a former and longtime member of one of the country’s premier intelligence-gathering and investigative agency, the National Bureau of Investigation," he said.

Velasco said a subpoena was sent to Ong last June 16, requiring him to attend a preliminary investigation on June 27 at 10:30 a.m. so he could present his counter-affidavit.

Together with the subpoena were copies of the complaint as well as the evidence submitted by the NBI, he added.

Velasco said the summons was duly served to Florentina Bacoling, caretaker of Ong’s house, on No. 406 Diamond Avenue, Green Heights Subdivision in Novaliches, Quezon City.

Copies of the summons and the attachments were also given to Eguilles Eduardo Oleo, a security guard of Green Heights Subdivision, and Rina Raza, officer-on-duty at San Bartolome Barangay hall in Novaliches, Quezon City, he added.

Velasco said the scheduled June 27 preliminary investigation was "widely and properly" reported in almost all national print and broadcast media outlets on June 15 and 16.

Ong was given a chance to attend the preliminary investigation on June 27, but he did not appear and only the NBI representativesattended the hearing, he added.

Velasco said Ong failed to show up at the preliminary investigation despite having been properly summoned and notified of the hearing.

"Neither did he send any representative or legal counsel," he added. "Thence, at exactly 10:50 a.m., the hearing was duly adjourned and the subject was considered submitted for resolution.

"We based our decision to file the charges against Ong on the evidence adduced by the NBI, which remained uncontroverted until now."

Velasco said there is no question that Ong made the seditious remarks, and that his statements had been published.