Church worker linked to Balweg slay cleared

BANGUED, Abra — The three-year court trial on the Dec. 31, 1999 killing of priest-turned-rebel Conrado Balweg formally ended yesterday when murder charges against the primary suspect and alleged mastermind were dismissed.

Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Aglipayan) worker Lorna Rivera Baba, 39, was the last of 14 people whom the military had accused of having conspired to kill Balweg, to be cleared of the crime.

In a two-page decision, Judge Corpuz Alzate said the evidence which prosecutors had presented was insufficient to prove Baba’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The Abra-based Agustin Begnalen Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) earlier had owned up to Balweg’s murder and denied Baba’s participation in the killing.

The NPA unit said Balweg was meted "revolutionary justice" because of his alleged "crime against the people."

The military had alleged that Baba, 39, was an NPA member whose real name is Miel Laurenaria and known as "Ka Lisa."

Elements of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) arrested Baba in Pidigan town on March 17, 2000. Baba claimed that her arrest was not covered by a warrant and that she was tortured and subjected to inhumane treatment by the military and the police.

She said she was brought to Camp Aguinaldo where she was presented to the media as a high-ranking official of the Northern Luzon Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who had allegedly masterminded Balweg’s killing.

Balweg, a former SVD priest, joined the New People’s Army (NPA) in the late 70s when his fellow Tingguians embraced the armed revolution to resist the logging operations of Cellophil Resources Corp. in the mountains of Abra and Mt. Province.

He left the communist movement in 1986 to form his own paramilitary group, the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army.