LAWYER Ferdinand Topacio of the group called Citizen’s Crime Watch (CCW) got his 15 minutes of fame recently when he and CCW chair Diego Magpantay called a press conference and waved bundles of peso bills that are supposedly part of the reward money “concerned” private citizens raised for information leading to the arrest of National Anti-Poverty Commission chair Liza Maza, former lawmakers Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño and former Agriculture secretary Rafael Mariano.
On July 11, then Palayan City, Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court judge Evelyn Atienza-Turla issued warrants of arrest against the four for a 2006 double murder case alleged to be part of an election-related violence. Mariano described the case as baseless, malicious and fabricated and he and the three others refused to surrender even as they continued to seek legal remedies through their lawyers.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque called on Maza to give herself up to the authorities. Topacio and Magpantay followed with their reward antics. The lawyer of the four accused Topacio of endangering the lives of her clients and threatened legal action against him.
“As a lawyer, siya po ay responsible sa whatever statement na sasabihin niya. At ‘yon pong pagre-raise niya ng bounty, ay talagang nakakapahamak sa buhay at seguridad ng aming mga client,” lawyer Rachel Pastores said.
Turla later inhibited herself from the case. She was replaced by Judge Trese Wenceslao (I don’t know if the judge is a relative although I would like to think so), who promptly dismissed the murder case against the four and quashed the warrant of arrest against them, meaning that the four are free again to come out.
Wenceslao said that “probable cause has not been established to warrant the arrest of the four.” Facts and circumstance to prove they are guilty of the crime have not been met also.
“For them to stand trial and be deprived in the meantime of their liberty, however brief, would be a flagrant violation of a basic right which the courts are created to uphold,” the judge ruled.
Maza’s group, Gabriela Women’s Party, considered this a slap on the faces of Roque and Topacio. “We were correct in saying before that they were just staging a comedy show in their bluffs and threats to Makabayan 4 to compensate for the poorly scripted murder accusations. At the end, it is the people’s call for truth and stand against political persecution that will prevail,” Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said.
The four could now breathe a sigh of relief. The case apparently tested their willingness to bring the struggle they are waging to a higher level. Had the case not been dismissed and the warrant of arrest not been quashed, would they have plunged into the unknown, meaning remain underground?
As for Topacio, there are some lessons he could mine here. He and Dante Jimenez of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption have changed their tack under the administration of President Duterte. Anti-crime groups were formed because of the legitimate quest of relatives of crime victims for justice. Yet their leaders’ partisan politicking and personal ambition suck already. They are the ones inflicting injustice on people instead.