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Thursday, March 08, 2007
Police urge lawmaker to surrender (2:15 p.m.)
MANILA – Police authorities urged Bayan-Muna Representative Satur Ocampo to voluntarily surrender after an arrest warrant for multiple murder was issued by a local court in Leyte against the lawmaker and 51 other members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
Ocampo in a separate press conference condemned as a clear miscarriage of justice the issuance of a warrant of arrest against him in connection with purported communist purge in Leyte.
PNP Spokesman Samuel Pagdilao said Ocampo, Jose Maria Sison and other personalities were indicted on 15 counts of murder allegedly committed during the purging of suspected “spies and counter-revolutionaries” within the communist group from 1985 to 1991.
"In the best interest of justice and human rights, Rep. Ocampo and the other accused personalities should turn themselves in to authorities because flight is an indication of guilt and will only aggravate their case," Pagdilao said
Pagdilao said all police units in the country are furnished copies of the warrant of arrest for execution.
Meanwhile, Ocampo in a press conference said the charges are plain harassment by the present administration.
"I am innocent of these invented charges. My right to due process was violated by the prosecutor and the judge who ignored seven solid bases for trashing the case. I will avail myself of legal remedies to correct this injustice against me," said Ocampo said.
He explained that he was arrested on Jan. 14, 1976 and was under military custody until May 5, 1985. This renders impossible the claim that he was in Leyte in 1984 to supervise the purported purge," he said.
As to the claim that he went back to Leyte in 1991, "that is also impossible because I was arrested anew in 1989 and was detained until 1992. I cannot be in detention while at the same time appear from thin air in Leyte."
Ocampo said "Malacañang, the National Security Adviser, the
Department of Justice, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the entire machinery of government are now combining to pin me down and to crush Bayan Muna."
Addressing Executive Sec. Eduardo Ermita and Gonzales, Ocampo said: "Okay, let's fight. But fight me in a fair and square way. No dirty tactics, and respect due process."
"You boys are playing dirty," he quipped.
Ocampo’s legal counsel, Romeo Capulong, who was in the same press conference said any independent-minded and intelligent fiscal or judge would have junked the case based on one or all of the following:
* The prosecutor did not comply with the mandatory requirements on affidavits which should have been sworn by witnesses before him personally.
* Ocampo is already charged with rebellion. All common crimes allegedly committed in the course of rebellion are considered subsumed in the rebellion case.
* No probable cause was found for charging Ocampo.
* No proof of conspiracy was presented, as required by law and jurisprudence.
* No corpus delicti was produced. The 67 skeletons were not identified through forensic investigation and DNA testing.
* The prescription period has lapsed. The crimes attributed to Ocampo happened in 1984 to 1985, or more than 20 years ago.
* The prosecution and the judge admitted and used sworn affidavits of the self-admitted murderers as evidence to pin down Ocampo, a practice prohibited by law and the rulings of the Supreme Court.(Sunnex) |
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