Satur Ocampo and Joma Sison --- Ipa Sikup sa Katawhan ug sa Kapulisan!

[skobadagank]

---

Charges of Mass Murder have been slapped against Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo and his boss Joma Sison for giving the nod in the killing of supposed DPA's of the military in 1984. Mass Graves were unearthed in Guinobatan, Leyte with the help of former NPA rebels who participated in the liquidation. Mr. Ocampo answered by saying "ihow can i attend the supposed meeting for the approval of the killings when i was in jail at the time?"

sa inyo tan aw -->tinuod ni?

[budmendz]

It remains to be proven in court. Sa atong bala-od, hangtud dili maprobahan sa korte nga sad-an ka, you are an innocent man. Duna naman kahay warrant of arrest di dakpon. Ang mga ordinary nga tawo maka himo sad ug citizens arrest karon nga duna nay sugo gikan sa korte.

Ang ato lang lagi kay kini sila basta pabor nila ang korte, like the supreme court's decision always defeating GMA, moingon sila nga independet kaayo ang atong korte, pero di gani pabor nila like ipadakop si Satur, karon moingon na nga way hinungdan ang korte.

[duke pikaso]

PNP urges Ocampo to surrender


A Philippine National Police (PNP) official on Thursday urged Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo to voluntarily submit himself under the jurisdiction of the law after an arrest warrant was issued by a Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Hilongos, Leyte against the activist solon.

"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," Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., PNP spokesman, said in a news release.

Pagdilao said police had received an arrest warrant in relation to Criminal Case H-1581 for Ocampo, Jose Maria Sison and 52 other people. The warrant was issued by Ephrem Abando, executive judge of RTC Branch 18 in Hilongos.

The police statement said Ocampo and Sison, along with their other co-accused, were indicted on 15 counts of murder allegedly committed during the purge of suspected "spies and counter-revolutionaries" within the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) from 1985 to 1991.

"This warrant of arrest is a lawful order from the court that the PNP is mandated to serve as a part of our normal law enforcement function," Pagdilao said.

He said all PNP units have been furnished copies of the arrest warrant to be immediately served on the 54 people who will be presented before the judge.

The police spokesman added that "our justice system assures the accused personalities of their day in court, unlike their alleged victims who were summarily butchered without the benefit of a fair trial."

Bayan Muna officials scored Thursday the issuance of the arrest warrant against Ocampo, calling it another attempt to stop the party-list group’s impending win in the May 14, 2007 party-list elections in the Philippines.

"This is a totally baseless charge. The evidence has been fabricated by the military … The warrant of arrest issued against Bayan Muna Representative Satur C. Ocampo without bail is a gross miscarriage of justice," said Ocampo’s counsel, Romeo Capulong, in a statement posted on www.bayanmuna.net.

"This is too much! After having failed to arrest us last year and with their rebellion case getting nowhere, NSA [National Security Adviser Norberto] Gonzales and his InterAgency Legal Action Group [have] resorted to disqualification cases, fake murder charges and kangaroo court tactics to thwart Bayan Muna's impending win in the polls," Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said Thursday in a text message sent to abs-cbnNEWS.com.

"NSA Gonzales and his boss (President Arroyo) are the gravest threat to the country's representative democracy," he added.

Neri Javier Colmenares, Bayan Muna general counsel, said: "This is the start of crackdown on anti-Arroyo groups to cripple their campaign and stop their sure victory in the elections."

The left-leaning activist group topped Pulse Asia’s January 2007 survey with 16.4% of respondents indicating their preference to vote for Bayan Muna. It had also topped the 2001 and 2004 party-list elections, garnering the maximum three seats in the House of Representatives in both elections.

Colmenares also told DZMM on Thursday that the issuance of an arrest warrant was a government tactic to divert the public's attention from the negative effects of the Melo Commission report and the initial findings of UN special rapporteur Philip Alston on the extrajudicial killings in the country.

"Rep. Ocampo was in detention during the time the alleged crime (NPA purge) took place," Capulong said on the case against Ocampo.

"First of all, the case rests solely on the testimonies of the alleged perpetrators of the crime who are now working for the military …The complaint filed suffers from a fatal defect for failure to comply with the mandatory requirements of the Court," Capulong added.

Disqualification charges have been filed before the Commission on Elections against Bayan Muna and two other party-list groups, Gabriela and Anakpawis, by widows of former New People’s Army rebels for the three group’s alleged participation in the killings of their husbands.

Ocampo, along with five other party-list representatives, was charged with rebellion in 2006.

Ocampo on Tuesday scored Executive Order 493 issued on Jan. 17, 2006 forming the Inter-agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) headed by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and with members from Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation and PNP.

"This IALAG is behind the trumped-up cases now littering the courts and we expect that more such fabricated cases will steal precious time and resources of the judges from tackling extrajudicial slays," Ocampo said.

Ocampo, a veteran journalist, co-founded the National Democratic Front (NDF) in 1973. Arrested during the Marcos dictatorship in 1976, he was detained in military camps for nine years and escaped in 1985 while on pass to vote in the National Press Club elections.

He led the NDF negotiating panel in peace talks with the Aquino government but returned to the underground when the peace negotiations collapsed in January 1987.

He was re-arrested in 1989 but eventually freed in 1992.

He co-founded Bayan Muna in 2000 and he was the leading nominee of the group when it won in both the 2001 and 2004 party-list elections.

[budmendz]

Maayo bitaw nga modangop dayon sila ni Satur sa Supreme Court kay aron ma desisyonan dayon kung dakop ba gyud o di. Ang ako lang unya ug moingon ang SC nga valid ang warrant of arrest nya moingon si Satur nga way hinungdan ang Supreme Court lain na sad nang istoryaha kay cg na ra ba cyang ingon sa una nga independent kaayo ang SC.

Pero libog lang ko nga unsa may labot ni GMA nga mao na say iyang pasanginlan ug harassment nga Huwes man ang nagpadakop niya.

[duke pikaso]

PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
CPP denounces arrest warrant against Joema, Satur and others
March 8, 2007

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today denounced as "a product of pure fabrication and a crude and blatant intrument of fascist intimidation and political harassment" the issuance of an arrest warrant by a Leyte Regional Trial Court judge against Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, National Democratic Front consultant Prof. Jose Ma. Sison and several others for alleged involvement in what the military charges as the killing of government spies within the revolutionary movement in the 1980s.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said the arrest warrant issued by Leyte RTC Judge Ephraim Abando "is unmistakably another of those devious concoctions and dirty legal manueverings by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and other top security and military officials of the Arroyo regime to politically eliminate Bayan Muna and other progressive parties feared by Malacañang and the AFP to most likely to win and gain more seats in Congress.

Rosal also cited as another of such dirty legal manueverings the filing recently of murder charges in Nueva Ecija against Reps. Ocampo, Liza Maza and Teddy Casiño on the basis of false testimony. The progressive legislators countered by filing yesterday a criminal complaint for perjury against the military and their "witnesses" for "untruthful statements, including their claim that they were harassed "for refusing to vote for Bayan Muna" in 1998. The progressive legislators stated that "that is an impossibility," because Bayan Muna was only formed in 1999 and actually vied for the elections starting only in 2001.

Rosal said further that "The charges filed by the military in Leyte against Rep. Ocampo and others are just as utterly baseless.The arrest warrant the issued by the Leyte RTC judge at the behest of the military is obviously another effort to intimidate and harass Bayan Muna and and allied progressive parties to hinder their campaign efforts," added Rosal.

Rosal pointed out that Rep. Ocampo and Prof. Sison had previously dismissed the charges against them by pointing out that they were under military detention in the mid-1980s when the military claims the killings occurred. Shortly after, Prof. Sison was engaged in a speaking tour outside of the country when threats to his life and liberty occurred, obliging him to seek asylum in Europe.

Rosal described the issue of the so-called mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte being raised by the Malacañang and the AFP as "hoax." Investigations among the townspeople reveal that the so-called mass graves are actually a distant cemetery where townfolk have been burying their dead. He also disclosed that the person who allegedly attested to Rep. Ocampo's role in the supposed killings is actually a military agent who has been working for the AFP since 2001.

AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperos tried to convince United Nations Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur Philip Alston about the AFP's line that the extrajudicial killings going on are attributable to an "internal purge" within the CPP-NPA and even presented the special rapporteur a copy of the AFP's documents supposedly to prove their "purge" theory. The UN investigator, however, dismissed the AFP's "purge" theory as a mere "fabrication" and "nothing other than disinformation" by the AFP.

Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:cppmedia@gmail.com

[baron]

With their admission that there have been internal purges in the 1980's, why do they disown it now? Now, he's hiding. He even has the guts to tell the authorities that they are just resorting to tactics when he should prove to himself and to the people that he is willing to undergo to this legal proceeding if he is really innocent.

But with the earlier admission, I guess it is high time Ka Satur face the charges against him.

[baby_grace]

if Satur Ocampo denies all the allegations charged against him, he should not complain about his arrest and instead surrender. The charges has yet to be proven although it cannot be denied that his Bayan Muna group is a progressive group allied with the leftists. He shouldnt blame the government for his arrests. Bayan Muna has done nothing but stage rallies. These party lists linked with the NPA just bring chaos on the streets using taxpayers' money.

[budmendz]

With their admission that there have been internal purges in the 1980's, why do they disown it now? Now, he's hiding. He even has the guts to tell the authorities that they are just resorting to tactics when he should prove to himself and to the people that he is willing to undergo to this legal proceeding if he is really innocent.

But with the earlier admission, I guess it is high time Ka Satur face the charges against him.

The tactics used by Satur is nothing new. He wants to answer the charges through the media. THe Philippine Daily Inquirer has become his blow horn. We have a saying that goes... we are a nation of laws and not of men. So it is better indeed for him to clear his name on his claims of the "false and fabricated charges" in court rather than hiding and make himself available only through the media.

Basin pa unya nuon ug sa tanto niyang tago madakpan cya nga gikan ni-ambak ug bintana parehong Honasan.

[samsungster]

anyway congressman ocampo can afford to hire the best lawyer in the country to defend him..atty. capulong is a good lawyer!!

[budmendz]

anyway congressman ocampo can afford to hire the best lawyer in the country to defend him..atty. capulong is a good lawyer!!

Exactly! pero mao lagi maayo man gud nang maghimo lang ug saba saba sa media kay mao gud na ngilngig sila ana sa -propaganda. Ikaw ug gikiha ka, unya wa kay sala, nganong di man atubangon sa husgado. Maayong laki ug abugado. Capulong is one of the best minds in the legal world. Unya ug mapilde man gani cya sa RTC naa pay COA ug mapilde naa pay Supreme Court nga gidayeg niya ug maayo nga independent.

Ang iya nga gahulat ra kuno cya ug maayong panahon. Unsang panahon? kanang mag rally una mga Bayan Muna? Mas maayo bitaw ug mag rally na sila taman sa ginhawa karon nga dakponon ilang Supremo. Tan-awon nato ug di ba ma turn-off mga tawo nila. Pero wala man silay kisaw. Mga maru man kaayo.

Unya cg sila panghambog nga dili sila front sa NPA nga wa sila maghatag ug supporta sa NPA. Unya si Duke Pikaso nag post sa taas nga nag press release ang mga kanahan agi ug sempatiya ni Satur. Sus tawon mao niy giingon nga ang mga taga ciudad nga duol sa sibilisasyon ilaron lang iring mga nagpas-an ug armas sa bukid nga wa gani ka tilaw ug disko kay nagkalisod ug dinagan pagtago.

Ako pang Rosal mag press release cya ug unsay komentaryo sa ilang mga kadaghanan nga si joma ga bayle-bayle ug artista ngadto sa Netherlands.