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Sunday, March 11, 2007
Police fail to nab Ocampo
MANILA -- Philippine National Police (PNP) operatives went to the house of wanted Bayan Muna party- list Rep. Satur Ocampo in Quezon City Saturday but left after they did not find the left-leaning lawmaker there.
PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Director Edgardo Doromal said a CIDG team went to Ocampo’s house on Heroes Hill on Saturday morning after receiving a tip that the legislator was there.
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A Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Leyte has issued a warrant for the arrest of Ocampo in connection with the multiple murder case filed against him for the purge of scores of suspected deep penetration agents (DPAs) in Inocapan town in Leyte.
Ocampo allegedly ordered the killing in the 1980s when he was still a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines central committee.
The skeletal remains of the victims were exhumed late last year by the military and the police.
Several New People’s Army leaders who have returned to the folds of the law have pointed to Ocampo and Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison as the ones who supposedly orchestrated the killings.
Sison is on exile in The Netherlands.
“He wasn’t there,” said Doromal of Ocampo as he vowed that the CIDG will continue monitoring the lawmaker so that they can serve the warrant.
After the military linked him to the purge, Ocampo denied, in earlier interviews, with the media that he had a role in the purge.
He said he was languishing in jail when the killings took place.
Ocampo’s wife, Carolina Malay, said the 20-man CIDG team — armed with assault rifles — broke into their house at around 11 a.m.
Malay said about 15 officers forced their way into the residence in suburban Quezon city.
"They opened closets, storage spaces, cabinets and looked under the beds and knocked on ceilings. The only place they didn't look was under my skirt," she told The Associated Press by telephone after the police left.
The police also searched her brother's house and three of her neighbor's residences, she added.
Malay said her husband is set to file a complaint against the "hasty" issuance of the arrest warrant which was the basis for the police raid at their residence.
Malay admitted that she is in constant communication with the congressman.
She said: "I am assuring everyone that he’s not running away from anything… He just wants to make sure that’s it’s going to be a [fair and square] fight."
"He promised to make himself available very soon," Malay added.
PNP spokesman Samuel Pagdilao earlier appealed to Ocampo to surrender to the police to avoid any unwanted incident.
After Pagdilao’s appeal, Ocampo said he will give up in four days.
Ocampo's lawyer, Romeo Capulong, said the charges were based on "clear fabrication and perjury," and legally defective because the required forensic identification of the alleged victims hasn't been produced.
Capulong said he will challenge the charges and arrest warrants with the Supreme Court next week.
Ocampo, 67, was first arrested in 1976 and severely tortured. He escaped from military detention in May 1985 and after Marcos was toppled in 1986, led rebel negotiators in unsuccessful peace talks.
He was arrested again in 1989 and freed in 1992 to encourage the rebels to pursue the talks.
Ocampo founded Bayan Muna in 1999 and took part in elections for the first time in 2001.
Sison, arrested in 1977, left the country months after being freed in 1986 and currently lives in exile in the Netherlands. The military claims he has reassumed his post as party chairman, which he denies.
Meanwhile, Ocampo has found allies among the majority lawmakers.
Although they did not categorically hit Malacańang for the alleged harassment and persecution that Ocampo is facing right now, they have thought that the arrest warrant issued against him was untimely.
“I just can’t get it. A long time already passed but why was the warrant of arrest against Congressman Ocampo issued only now, now when it’s election season? I just couldn’t get the wisdom behind the issuance of the arrest warrant,” said an administration congressman who requested anonymity.
“I hope the judge that issued the arrest warrant has all the legal basis and explanations why he issued the arrest warrant only this time,” he added.
Ocampo and Sison were charged before a court in Leyte with multiple murders for the purge of suspected deep penetration agents of the military in the ranks of the communist movement in the 1980s.
A warrant of arrest was issued thereafter.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Constantino Jaraula expressed sympathy with Ocampo.
He, too, could not believe why the arrest warrant was issued only this time.
But he did not discount that the judge that issued the warrant has good reasons for doing so.
Another administration congressman who also refused not to be named said the move against Ocampo was “not brilliant at all if this was just another way of campaign against Ocampo’s party-list group.”
House Minority Leader and senatorial candidate Francis Escudero also questioned the timing of the issuance of the arrest warrant against Ocampo.
Although he was not blaming the government for it, he could not discount the possibility that what is happening to Ocampo could be an attempt to “silence a discordant voice in the House of Representatives”.
Escudero said he understands that nobody is immune from arrest, even a congressman like Ocampo and himself, especially in a case as serious as murder.
But any attempt to manipulate the judicial process is totally unacceptable he added.
Escudero also pointed out that it seems impossible for Ocampo to have committed the crime when this murder occurred at a time he was incarcerated.
Ocampo was under military custody from Jan. 14, 1976 to May 5, 1985.
The crime, on the other hand, supposedly took place in Leyte in 1984. (AP/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (March 11, 2007 issue)
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