MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday distanced itself from the comment of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. criticizing the arrest of Satur Ocampo.
In a tweet Saturday, Locsin slammed the kidnapping and human trafficking charges filed against his former colleague at the House of Representatives.
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“Human trafficking? Bullsh*t. I won’t even bother to get the other side. I know Satur. We protected him in our Congress against warrant of arrest,” he said.
Human trafficking? Bullshit. I won't even bother to get the other side. I know Satur. We protected him in our Congress against warrants of arrest. https://t.co/SdiKRtVIde
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) November 30, 2018
In a statement Monday, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo stressed that Locsin’s personal views on the matter do not reflect the official position of the administration on the issue.
Ocampo and Locsin were members of the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2010 as representatives of Makati City and Bayan Muna party-list, respectively.
“We, therefore, consider the remarks of Sec. Locsin as personal sentiments supportive of a friend being former colleagues with Mr. Ocampo in Congress,” Panelo said.
He added: “Friendship, however, does not give birth to the conclusive conclusion that a person charged of a crime is innocent nor does a charge sheet automatically make such individual guilty thereof.”
The president’s mouthpiece, moreover, insisted that Ocampo and his group are being accorded due process.
“The request of Mr. Ocampo and his group to have a preliminary investigation to rebut the allegations and to proffer evidence in support of their defense was granted by Prosecutor’s Office in Tagum City. Presently, they are enjoying their liberty on account of the bail posted by them in court,” Panelo said.
Ocampo, Rep. France Castro (ACT-Teachers party-list) and 16 others were held last week by police in Talaingod town in Davao del Norte and charged for allegedly transporting 14 Lumad students without documents to indicate their parents’ consent.
They said they were just rescuing these students as their schools were locked down by paramilitary forces.
'Charges vs Ocampo will fail'
The 79-year-old Ocampo cried harassment over his arrest and denied that the group is recruiting students to become members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.
“Ka Satur, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro, and the others who were part of the National Solidarity Mission in Talaingod, Davao del Norte had no intention to abuse, kidnap, or, more thoughtlessly, traffic the children. They had, in fact, responded to the "cry of the needy", the call of the Salugpongan schools for rescue in the midst of forcible closure and embargo by the army and allied paramilitary,” Ocampo's counsel, Rachel Pastores, said.
She added that the "ludicrous" charges against the Talaingod 18 would not survive reasonable judicial or public scrutiny.
Castro, on the other hand, dared Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde to visit Lumad schools where students are allegedly being taught communism after the latter claimed that the Lumad schools where the group rescued students teach other materials.
“That's an old story told by the police. I challenge you, Albayalde, I'll bring you to a Lumad school so you can observe what is taught there and so you can see how good the students of Lumad schools are,” she said in Filipino. — Gaea Katreena Cabico