Victims’ kin want Luisita massacre case reopened

MANILA, Philippines - Relatives of seven victims of the so-called Hacienda Luisita massacre asked the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday to reopen the multiple murder case filed against the respondents, which includes President Aquino’s family.

In a 24-page motion, the complainants asked Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to reverse a ruling handed down by the anti-graft in 2005 junking the charges for lack of merit.

Among the respondents in the case were former labor secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas; Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr.; Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. and 22 other military and police personnel and some private individuals.

The motion, prepared by lawyers from the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, the Public Interest Law Center, and the Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center, questioned the earlier decision of the ombudsman dismissing both the administrative and criminal cases filed against the perpetrators of the massacre.

The petitioners said the original complaint filed by 52 victims in January 2005 was dismissed by the ombudsman in July of that year. The dismissal was affirmed in December 2010.

Apart from a multiple murder case, among the complaints lodged against Aquino – then a congressman and administrator of his family’s sugar business in Tarlac – include multiple frustrated murder, multiple attempted murder, theft, malicious mischief, grave abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official and violation of Republic Act 7438, which defines the rights of arrested persons.

The petitioners were led by Gabriel Sanchez of Barangay Balete and Violeta Basilio of Barangay Mapalacsiao, both in Hacienda Luisita, and massacre survivor Florida Sibayan of the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid ng Hacienda Luisita.

Sanchez and Basilio are parents of victims Juancho and Jhaivie, respectively, who were among those killed in the dispersal of the striking Hacienda Luisita workers on Nov. 16, 2004.

“Despite the undisputed fact, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed both the administrative and criminal cases filed against the public and private respondents,” the complainants said in their petition.

They said Aquino is among the civilian respondents in the case, as they reminded the ombudsman that seven persons were killed on the scene and more than a hundred others were wounded during the incident.