Ocampo, Baylosis' lawyers: DOJ should withdraw petition

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyers of former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Rafael Baylosis urge the Department of Justice to withdraw the petition seeking to tag members of the communist insurgents as “terrorists.”

Following the Manila court’s declaration of Ocampo and Baylosis as “non-parties” to the case, the Public Interest Law Center said: “In the absence of any evidence against them, the DOJ should just withdraw the petition for proscription.”

A Manila Regional Trial Court ruled that Ocampo, Baylosis, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, human rights advocate Jose Melencio Molintas are “non-parties” to the Department of Justice proscription petition.

READ: Manila court declares Satur Ocampo, others ‘non-parties’ to terror petition

DOJ, under former chief Vitaliano Aguirre II, sought to tag more than 600 people as “terrorists" under the Human Security Act of 2007 last February 21.

But Manila RTC Presiding Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar found “nothing” in the petition that pointed to Molintas and Corpuz as officers or representatives of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, New People’s Army.

The court ruling is a “vindication of our position that they are not terrorists nor involved in any terrorist act,” the lawyers said.

“The court order is proof that the case, where allegations have been recycled countless times, reeks with ill motive and red-tagging,” they added.

The lawyers said that the inclusion of Ocampo and Baylosis in the petition “already put their lives and security at risk.” They lamented that public vilification followed the DOJ’s filing of the case, as it “cast aspersion upon their characters and besmirched their reputations.”

“The policy of linking of our clients, activists, and critics of the government to the CPP/NPA and tagging them as ‘terrorists’ must stop,” PILC said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, in a message to reporters, said that the DOJ has yet to receive a copy of the ruling. He said that they will look into the “impacts, if any” of the recent decision in their petition.

He stressed that that the “real respondents” in the proscription case are the CPP and NPA.

“It is these entities, not the named individuals, who are the party-respondents in the petition to declare them as terrorist organizations,” Guevarra said. — Kristine Joy Patag