All violations of due process should be set right

As you read this piece the 43 health workers, known as the “Morong 43” political detainees who went on hunger strike for their freedom, may already be celebrating victory with their families, friends and supporters.

There’s now an air of hopefulness that the Morong 43’s release may lead to the freeing of most, if not all, of the remaining political prisoners in the country.

(As of Oct. 31, Karapatan listed 369 political prisoners; 356 were arrested under the Arroyo government, 13 under the present administration.)

What spurs such optimism is the reason President Aquino cited last Dec. 10, Human Rights Day, for ordering the withdrawal of charges against the Morong 43. He said:

“The medical workers were arrested in the waning days of the Arroyo administration on the suspicion that they were aiding NPA insurgents. These are valid concerns. Nevertheless, we recognize that their right to due process was denied them. As a government that is committed to the rule of law and the rights of man, this cannot stand.”

President Aquino ordered the department of justice to withdraw the illegal possession of firearms and explosives case filed against the health workers at the instance of the military. It was the military, using a defective search warrant, that had arrested them while undergoing a seminar at a Morong, Rizal resort 10 months ago.

The health workers protested that their arrest was illegal, that they were tortured in military custody, and that the firearms and explosive materials allegedly seized in the raid were planted. They gained support nationally and internationally.

On the other hand, the military insisted that the health workers were communists, constituted a threat to national security and should remain in detention. For months, the President seemed to defer to this militarist hard line, even as he acknowledged that the evidence produced through the defective search warrant were “fruits of a poisonous tree” and could not be used in court.

Finally, in what Justice Secretary Leila de Lima described as a debate between “national interest and national security,” national interest prevailed. Because there were mistakes in the search, arrest and inquest processes, she emphasized, national interest dictated that these be rectified.

President Aquino himself explained: “When we talked to the hierarchy of the Armed Forces and of the PNP, I insisted to them that we shouldn’t take shortcuts in implementing our laws. If we are not going to comply, how would we be different from those who violate the law?”

If this is to be the template for handling cases involving “national security” under the new government, it must review all the cases of the other political detainees, including those who have been convicted of common crimes but tagged as NPA rebels or supporters. Those found to have been denied due process should be promptly cleared and freed.

The fact is that for so long now, procedural shortcuts and blatant violations of due process have characterized the arrest, detention and prosecution of many political activists, even plain citizens, suspected by the security forces of having links with the CPP-NPA.

 The violations worsened after the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), formed by Gloria Arroyo in January 2006, carried out a “legal offensive” as part of the counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bantay Laya 2.

With your indulgence, may I cite cases involving myself. The first “legal-offensive” case was that against the “Batasan 6” — Crispin Beltran, Liza Maza, Rafael Mariano, Teodoro Casino, Joel Virador, and me, all members of Congress then. Charged with rebellion, we were called to account for all acts of violence allegedly committed by the NPA since 1969.

The Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of the charge for lack of merit on July 1, 2007. In that ruling, the Court admonished the justice secretary and state prosecutors not to allow themselves to be used as tools for political persecution.

Notwithstanding such rebuke, the Arroyo government charged me again, with several others, before the Hilongos, Leyte regional trial court, with “multiple murder” that allegedly occurred in 1984 (forgetting that I was then in military detention). Proceedings have been suspended while my certiorari petition, heard by the SC in 2007, awaits decision.

Last July 21, already under the Aquino administration, state prosecutors filed yet another, separate murder case in Hilongos against me and some NDFP peace negotiators.    

Two murder charges in Nueva Ecija were also filed against me and three “Batasan 6” colleagues; one was dismissed, the other remanded to the prosecutor for reinvestigation.

Trumped-up charges, for both rebellion and common crimes, have been filed against more than 100 mass leaders and activists in Southern Tagalog, including a respected labor lawyer. 

In the Visayas and Mindanao, similar cases have been filed against leaders of people’s organizations, including human rights workers - all obviously intended to “neutralize” them from pursuing their pro-people advocacies.  

Clearly, “undue process” is still going on. A huge rectification task faces President Aquino and Secretary de Lima. But with political will, I think together they can hack it.