Senators, groups slam Satur transfer

An avalanche of condemnation met police attempts to transfer detained party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo to Leyte early yesterday morning.

"It’s a cause for concern, the nerve of our authorities to think of doing so. It’s also sad and scary because in the future, it will be done to ordinary citizens also," re-electionist Sen. Manuel Villar said.

"We should make a stand on these issues. I understand that whoever commits a sin or crime should be punished. But everyone has rights and we should protect these rights at all times, whether it’s Satur’s or anyone’s," Villar said.

Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan, Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel, and opposition senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal also voiced outrage over the incident.

"We strongly condemn Satur’s arrest and the attempts to move him to Leyte," Pangilinan said.

Sen. Ralph Recto said the administration is boosting Ocampo’s chances in the coming polls by harassing him. He said the picture of Ocampo behind bars "is the best election poster for Bayan Muna."

"If I were the government, I would go easy on Satur, because if the aim of arresting him is to prevent him from returning to Congress, then recent developments may have just guaranteed the opposite," Recto said in a statement.

Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), decried the forced transfer of Ocampo despite an order by a Leyte judge deferring his transfer.

"It is becoming clearer by the day that there is an emerging pattern to harass and intimidate party-lists, especially those of militants and the opposition. We may not see the end of it," Lacson said.

"They are targeting cause-oriented groups because Mrs. Arroyo is in survival mode. She wants to make sure an impeachment case does not prosper at the Lower House and is transmitted to the Senate," Lacson said.

Madrigal said Ocampo’s experience showed that the Arroyo administration is not afraid to mock the legal system.

"If they can do this to a respectable member of Congress, they can do this to anyone. This is a complete disregard with impunity of the judicial system by the executive," she said. "The Supreme Court should take action."

"As a human rights advocate, I intend to bring Ka Satur’s case to the United Nations and the Inter-parliamentary Union. We have turned into a lawless land, a wild wild west scenario," Madrigal said.

Administration senatorial candidate Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri also assailed the police for the aborted transfer of Ocampo.

"The PNP should have respected Ka Satur’s right to due process and should have waited for the Leyte judge and the Supreme Court to decide on his petitions."

The Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) assailed the "thieves in the wee hours who assaulted Ka Satur’s rights and dignity."

Fr. Jerry Sabado, spokesman for PCPR, said "there is no justification for this latest act of brutality perpetrated by police forces who choose to follow orders from the higher ups at the expense of human rights."

"We appeal to the Supreme Court to rule in favor of justice by canceling the arrest warrant against him. We appeal to the SC justices to junk the fabricated charges hurled against Ocampo as well as Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran. We challenge the high court to arrest the repressive actions of the Arroyo dictatorship against its critics who are now the targets of extrajudicial killings, warrantless arrests and other grave human rights abuses," Sabado said in a statement.

Meanwhile, militant organizations held lightning protest actions in Manila and Quezon City to denounce attempts by authorities to fly Ocampo to Leyte.

"The police took Ka Satur from the detention cell at dawn, when most of us are still asleep. Clearly, they want to take Ka Satur away from his colleagues and supporters, from the media and from the public in general," said Renato Reyes, secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. – With Aurea Calica, Edu Punay, Katherine Adraneda, Jess Diaz