Satur Ocampo, party-list lawmaker arrested for trafficking

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities confirmed yesterday the arrest of former Bayan Muna congressman Satur Ocampo and ACT Teacher’s party-list Rep. France Castro for allegedly trafficking children in Davao del Norte on Wednesday night.

Castro and Ocampo along with 74 others, including 12 teachers and 29 students of lumad schools, four pastors and an administrator of the Salugpungan community learning center, were allegedly transporting 12 minors in five vans when they were pulled over at a military checkpoint in the municipality of Talaingod at around 9 p.m.

Capt. Jerry Lamosao, chief information officer of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, said Ocampo’s group was transporting the children from Sitio Igang in Barangay Palma Gil to Maco, Compostela Valley when they were intercepted.

Authorities said the minors, aged 14 to 17, were rescued during the operation.

Lamosao said Ocampo, Castro and their companions are being held at the Talaingod municipal police on charges of child trafficking and kidnapping in relation to Republic Act 7610 or the anti-child abuse law.

Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal said some of the minors came from Bukidnon, Cotabato and Zamboanga.

Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. said Ocampo’s group was nabbed during the implementation of Oplan Dabaw Kalinaw.

Durana said they received a complaint that the minors were taken without permission from their parents. 

“They said there was a military offensive in the area that’s why they were evacuating the students. They don’t know that some of the parents have complained about the disappearance of their children. That’s why checkpoint operations were conducted,” he said.

Durana claimed that the Salugpungan learning school was closed as it served as a recruitment center for the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. 

He added the learning center is not accredited by the Department of Education.

‘Fabricated charges’

The leftist Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives condemned the detention of Castro and Ocampo by a police-military team in Davao del Norte.

The group said the authorities fabricated the charges of human trafficking against Castro and Ocampo, who were on a mission to check on a group of lumad people.

“It would be a blatant and outrageous lie to accuse a former public school teacher (Castro), peace advocate Ocampo as well as the administrator of the lumad school as child traffickers,” it said.

Makabayan said the crime of trafficking of minors includes exploitation or prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs. 

“All of these are the complete opposite to the objectives of the mission team to give relief to the students and teachers who are victimized by the threats, harassments and the forcible closure of their schools by the paramilitary group Alamara under the 56th Infantry Battalion,” the group said.

 “On the contrary, these state forces are the ones that should be charged and tried in court for their criminal acts against the communities in Talaingod. The trumped-up charges filed against the members of the mission were clearly fabricated to indefinitely detain them,” it added.

Makabayan called on the police to immediately drop the charges against Castro, Ocampo and members of their group. 

 ‘Rescued, not trafficked’

The group detained by police for supposedly trafficking lumad children were in Davao del Norte to provide support to a lumad community affected by paramilitary activities, according to a network advocating children’s rights and welfare.

The Save Our Schools (SOS) Network said Ocampo’s team was part of the fact-finding mission dispatched to Talaingod to investigate attacks against lumad schools.

It said that among the 74 detainees were teachers and students who were supposedly rescued following the forced closure of the Salugpungan community learning center.

“These blatant rights violations forced the students and teachers to evacuate, trekking more than three hours just to get out of the militarized community,” said the SOS Network.

“The mission team rescued the children and teachers but were met with indiscriminate firing, harassment and questioning from the police and military. They were brought to the police precinct and were threatened with trumped-up charges of kidnapping and child abuse,” it added.

SOS Network lead convenor Eule Rico Bonganay called for the release of those detained.

“We all know that President Duterte has waged an all-out war against progressives and against the Filipino people, especially of his recent Memorandum Order 32 and his announcement of installing death squads,” he said, referring to the Palace order to deploy more troops in Negros, Samar and Bicol.

“Their tactics of filing fabricated charges against human rights groups and defenders are not anymore new to us. If anything happens to the Talaingod 74, we hold him accountable,” added Bonganay.

The rights group Karapatan also demanded the immediate release of the members of the mission team led by Ocampo and Castro.

Karapatan described the country as “a dangerous place for women” during the commemoration of the International Women Human Rights Defenders Day yesterday.  –  With Jess Diaz, Rhodina Villanueva, Romina Cabrera, Janvic Mateo, Artemio Dumlao