If church workers were acquitted for their “ministry,” why can’t the Tagum court not grant the same for teachers and human rights defenders who rushed to assist Lumad children? A bishop of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines is asking.
By RITCHE T. SALGADO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A church leader has expressed his dismay over what he referred to as an “unjust” conviction against human rights defenders and volunteer teachers, also known as Talaingod 18.
In an interview with Bulatlat, Bishop Daniel Palicte of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines revealed that they expected that all the accused would be acquitted because they were there to rescue the children from the threat of military harassment.
Read: CHR, rights advocates slam arrest of Satur, 17 others
“We know that what happened was a solidarity mission for the Salugpungan school, but instead it turned into a rescue mission because (the teachers and students) were already being harassed,” he revealed.
Palicte was part of the solidarity mission that resulted in the filing of a trumped up child abuse case against 18 of them, including former lawmaker and martial law survivor Satur Ocampo and Rep. France Castro of ACT-Teachers Party-list.
He said that although they are happy for the acquittal of the four pastors, two of whom are from the UCCP and one from the United Methodist Church, they feel indignant that the rest of the accused were convicted.
“We know that no child abuse happened,” he said.
Acquitted are UCCP pastors Edgar Ugal, Ryan Magpayo, and Jurie Jaime, and United Methodist Church pastor, Eller Ordeza.
Palicte asserted that if the pastors were acquitted for the reason of doing their ministry, the other accused should also have been acquitted because they too were just doing their job as teachers.
“That part is not clear to us,” he said.
In the decision by Judge Jimmy Boco of Tagum City Regional Trial Court Branch 2, he said that the presence of the pastors “was only incidental because of their legitimate calling and part of their prophetic ministry in the Mission of the Lord.”
“We believe that this case was filed to malign the Salugpungan schools, the teachers, and the Representatives and the progressive party-list groups,” he said.
Former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, in a press conference on July 10, said that the besieged Lumad children, teachers, and staff escaped from the school in the evening of Nov. 28, 2018 as they feared for their lives. The rescue mission, on board five vans, met them halfway to the town center.
On their way, however, the mission was blocked by members of the Philippine military and the police. They were brought to the local police station where they were interrogated and eventually slapped with complaints for alleged violation of Republic Act No. 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012, Republic Act No. 7610 or thr Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, kidnapping and failure to return a minor.
Local paper MindaNews reported that the local prosecutor found no cause on the accusation of trafficking and kidnapping, but that “there is probable cause to indict respondents for violation of RA 7610, Article VI, Section 10a”.
Section 10a of RA7610 identifies the violation as “any other acts of child abuse, cruelty or exploitation or to be responsible for other conditions prejudicial to the child’s development.”
The case was pending in court for six years until its promulgation early this month.
Palicte said that the acquittal of the four pastors affirmed to the whole church the relevance of their mission to the Lumad communities.
“This shows the correctness of the church’s position to help the Lumad achieve their aspirations for their ancestral domain and their identity especially with the entry of large corporations (into their land),” he said.
“For those who have been convicted, this reveals to us the need to strengthen our resolve because of this experience of persecution of our lumad brothers and sisters. Our hope is for us to be strengthened because our principles are correct,” he said. (JJE, RVO) 
