THE burden of proof (onus probandi) is the obligation of the New People’s Army (NPA) to justify their multiple murders of Guihulngan police chief Superintendent Arnel Arpon, Senior Police Officer 2 Mecasio Tabilon, Senior Police Officer 2 Teovic Agosto, Senior Police Officer 1 Jesael Ancheta, Police Officer 2 Alvin Paul Bulandres, and Police Officer 2 Alfredo Dunque.
Injured were Senior Police Officer 4 Jerome Delara, Police Officer 3 Jordan Balderas, and Police Officer 2 Jorie Maribao.
The July 30, 2017 statement of the JB Regalado, spokesperson of the NPA-Central Negros (Leonardo Panaligan Command), has justified the killings based on allegations that the murder victims were engaging in killings, illegal arrests and tortures, and illegal drug activities.
These are serious allegations that have to be proven in courts of laws. JB Regalado failed to mention any judgment made by its so-called “people’s court.”
And even if he did invoke the so-called rulings of these “people’s court,” what court of appeals can subject these decisions for judicial review?
What Supreme Court can the convicted persons appeal to?
In fact, according to Lenin, which the Maoists draw inspiration for their calls to action, “The scientific term ‘dictatorship’ means nothing more nor less than authority untrammeled by any laws, absolutely unrestricted by any rules whatever, and based directly on force.” A Contribution to the History of the Question of the Dictatorship, Collected Works, Volume 31.
“Science,” my foot. Has the NPA used forensics science to prove their case against their accused victims? We are dealing not with science but the fairy tales of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist mumbo-jumbo to prove something not from logic but from the barrels of their guns.
Mind you, due process which the NPA allegedly adheres to, demands that the burden of proof is on the accuser, and that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law beyond reasonable doubt.
The way things are under the NPA justice system, the burden of proof is on the accused to prove his innocence. He is assumed guilty until proven otherwise.
Beyond the ambush of the Guihulngan and other NPA tactical offensives, their murder victims are denied the right to defend itself against their accusers, deprived their right of appeal.
I agree with Lieutenant General Jon Aying, commander of the Philippine Army 3rd Infantry Division, who rightly asserted that the communist rebels are not God to judge or do vengeance. “Sad to say, they had abandoned God and their spiritual values and beliefs.”
(bqsanc@gmail.com)