"We are vindicated", says Ocampo on SC ruling

House Deputy Minority Leader Satur Ocampo Friday welcomed the Supreme Court decision dismissing the trumped-up rebellion case against the Batasan 6, which should pave the way for the release of detained Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran.

“We are vindicated. This is a triumph of truth and justice over the Arroyo government’s invented and unfair charge against duly-elected people’s representatives,” said Ocampo, who also heads the Bayan Muna partylist group.

Said Ocampo: “President Arroyo and her fascist cabal tried their worst to crush the progressive partylist bloc in Congress. They miserably failed. We still won in the elections and in Supreme Court.”

“The tribunal’s ruling affirms our position that the charges against us are all fabricated, based only on perjured testimonies, full of legal shortcuts and obviously politically-motivated,” said Ocampo.

Ocampo said that “this is a slap on the faces of President Arroyo and her two repressive agencies — the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security led by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) led by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales — who have all conspired to demonize and persecute us because of our roles in the legal opposition and the mass movement.”

“Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is just one of the players. Those who hatched this plot against us are in the Palace,” said Ocampo.

“The COCIS and IALAG which are creations of President Arroyo were behind the trumped-up rebellion charges against us,” said Ocampo. “We continue to question the motivation of these two agencies as exposed in what they did to us.”