BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Breaking News
June 4, 2007 – 3:28 pm
The party-list representatives known as the “Batasan 5” — Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna (People First); Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis (Toiling Masses); and Liza Maza of the Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) — have called on their colleagues at the House of Representatives to pass a multi-partisan resolution expressing the demand for the permanent release of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran. The Batasan 5 made this call in a press conference at the House of Representatives early this afternoon.
Beltran was arrested without warrant in February last year for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Arroyo administration. He was accused of plotting with leaders of the dissident soldiers’ group Makabayang Kawal Pilipino in a meeting in Batangas, even as he is confirmed to have been attending congressional hearings at the time the meeting was alleged to have taken place.
He was subsequently charged with rebellion on the basis of a 1985 warrant of arrest.
Also charged with rebellion were the Batasan 5, who sought for and were given protective custody by the House of Representatives.
The rebellion charges against Beltran and the Batasan 5 were dismissed by the Supreme Court last Friday.
The High Court’s decision, penned by Justice Antonio Carpio, noted the “lack of sufficient evidence” against the six militant lawmakers. The ruling also warned against using institutions like the Department of Justice (DoJ) for what it described as “narrow political interests.”
“The Department of Justice is saddened and apprehensive with the recent ruling of the Second Division of the Supreme Court involving the Batasan 5 because beyond being a decision on this particular case, the Supreme Court ruling is fraught with far-reaching and adverse consequences on our criminal justice system,” Solicitor-General Agnes Devenadera said in a statement on Saturday.
Devenadera also announced that her office will file a motion for reconsideration to appeal the Supreme Court ruling on the rebellion charges.
This morning, Judge Elmo Alameda of the Makati Regional Trial Court’s Branch 150 granted Beltran’s petition for temporary release. Beltran will be allowed only to leave the Philippine Heart Center, where he has been confined under police custody for more than a year, to attend the last session days of the 13th Congress as well as the 100th anniversary of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
“The government should respect the Supreme Court decision, because it is not true that it will have ‘far-reaching and adverse consequences’ on the criminal justice system,” Capulong said in the press conference this afternoon.
“The truth is, the decision…is a triumph of justice and a triumph of the rule of law,” Capulong added.
“We urge Malacañang to graciously accept defeat and to respect the decision and prerogatives of the Supreme Court,” the Batasan 5 said in a statement read by Mariano during the press conference. “There is no use for a motion for reconsideration now, except for the obvious reason that the government wants to heartlessly keep Ka Bel in jail and show its vindictiveness to political dissenters.”(Bulatlat.com)
