By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Another Anti-Terrorism Act suit filed against human rights defenders was dismissed by a local court for lack of probable cause.
In a decision dated July 18, 2024, Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 12 Presiding Judge Julie P. Mercurio dismissed the complaint filed against a teacher’s union organizer and human rights defender Aurora Santiago. Included in the case as respondents are also peace consultant Emeterio Antalan Jr. and disappeared activists Norman Ortiz and Lee Sudario and 25 others.
This is the 14th ATA case filed against activists to be junked since December 2023, according to Karapatan’s data.
According to Karapatan Central Luzon, the case stemmed from a complaint filed by the 84th Infantry Battalion and the 7th Infantry Division.
In a statement, Karapatan Central Luzon welcomed the court’s decision, saying that it exposes the fabricated lies against Santiago and 28 other respondents.
“Such charges were made to threaten, harass, and intimidate Santiago in a desperate attempt to dissuade her from doing her work as a union organizer and a human rights defender,” the group said.
“In essence, the court did not give credence to the manner by which the witnesses identified the accused,” National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) President Ephraim Cortez told Bulatlat.
The complaint was based in an affidavit executed by a soldier in October 2023 naming Santiago, Antalan, Sudario, Ortiz and 25 others who were allegedly part of the ambush that took place on September 1, 2022 at around 10:00 in the morning in sitio Mapedya, barangay Rio Chico, Gen. Tinio, Nueva Ecija. The complainant alleged that the 29 were members of the New People’s Army.
A certain Placedo Esteban also said that he identified the 29 respondents on the basis of the account of the military personnel who was injured during the incident. Esteban, however, did not mention if he was present in the place of the incident or if he witnessed the said ambush.
The court also noted the discrepancy in the supposed list of individuals the soldiers alleged as “CNTs” or what they perceived as “terrorists.” In the said “Working PSR” there were 29 persons they claimed as present in the said ambush while in a “list” there were only 27 persons. Santiago and another respondent, Ma. Theresa Buscayno, were not on the “list” of the 27 persons who purportedly identified by the witnesses.
“Moreover, there was no reason given why they failed to reconcile the discrepancy in numbers between the ‘Working PSR’ and the ‘list’ of names of the persons who purportedly participated during the incident on September 1, 2022, vis-a-vis the names of the accused mentioned in the Information,” the judge said in the decision.
The court also said there was no evidence submitted to back the claim of the complainant that the 29 were collecting revolutionary taxes from the civilian residents, “other than the bare allegation of the witnesses.”
Mercurio also stressed that in charging the respondents with violation of ATA’s Section 4, “the active participation of each accused in the commission of the acts of terrorism with the purpose of intimidating the public in order to create an atmosphere of fear and to undermine public safety must be clear and supported by competent evidence.”
“Hence, the Court finds that, based on the Information, as well as its supporting documents, there is no probable cause to hold all the accused for trial the present case. In view of the foregoing, this case is hereby dismissed for lack of probable cause,” Mercurio said in the decision.
Cortez noted that they have observed in the past cases the use of false witnesses to implicate individuals in cases like the ATA.
“In the effort of the State to implicate individuals in these cases, especially leaders and members of civil society organizations, they used these kind of witnesses who willingly implicate these individuals by simply saying that they are familiar with them, and that they are known members of the CPP-NPA,” he said.
“This kind of identification is unreliable, and are obviously contrived,” Cortez added. (RTS,RVO) 
