The decision was based solely on the testimony of Bayani Domingo, who claimed to be a former member of the New People’s Army before he surrendered to the military in 2006.
For nine years, Julieta Caloza would travel from their home
in San Jose City ,
Nueva Ecija to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig
City
Leopoldo, 58, a consultant of the National Democratic Front
of the Philippines (NDFP), was arrested in October 2006. Twenty-one charges
were filed against him. All except one were dismissed due to lack of merit.
Last month, a local court in Taguig sentenced Leopoldo and
Emerito Antalan, another NDFP consultant, with life imprisonment for the murder
of a certain Kathlyn Ramos.
In a phone interview with Bulatlat.com,
Julieta said, her voice breaking, “Ang
bigat-bigat nito para sa akin. Sa huling kaso pa siya nahatulan.”
(This is too much for me to take. He was convicted on the last case filed
against him).
Antalan, meanwhile, was charged with eight criminal charges
which were all dismissed for lack of merit as early as 2007.
As NDFP consultants, both Antalan and Caloza are protected
by the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig).
In an urgent action alert, human rights alliance Karapatan
said, “Their arrest is already a violation of the Jasig, their conviction is
even a graver offense.”
‘No direct evidence’
Julieta said their lawyers are appealing the decision of
Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 266 judge Toribio Ilao Jr.
Ilao’s decision was based solely on the testimony of Bayani
Domingo, who claimed to be a former member of the New People’s Army before he
surrendered to the military in 2006. Domingo admitted he did not see Antalan and
Caloza kill Kathlyn Ramos.
Two other witnesses against Caloza and Antalan were Leonardo
Bernardo and Tarcila Ramos, mother of the victim. Bernardo said he knew Antalan
and Caloza as NPA leaders. He mentioned nothing about the alleged murder.
Tarcila Ramos testified about the exhumation of the body she
assumed, but not certain, to be that of her daughter’s. She admitted in court
that they did not undergo DNA test to establish it was Kathlyn Ramos’s remains.
Karapatan said the court believed Domingo’s story even
without any direct evidence to support his claim. “Branch 266 even justified
this by saying, ‘circumstantial evidence, if sufficient, can supplant the
absence of direct evidence.’”
Caloza and Antalan are the second and third peace
consultants to be convicted since the Jasig was signed by the GPH and the NDFP
in 1995. In 2013, peace consultant Eduardo Sarmiento was sentenced to life
imprisonment for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Sarmiento’s
lawyers filed a Motion for Reconsideration seeking the reversal of the court’s
decision
Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of
Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), said in an earlier statement that the growing number
of NDFP consultants who are being arrested and detained on the basis of
trumped-up charges is “a clear barometer that the GPH lacks the sincerity to
implement and even respect the bilateral agreements it signed in the peace
negotiations.”
Twelve other NDFP consultants are detained in various jails,
according to Karapatan.
Not a criminal
Julieta maintained that her husband is not a criminal. She
said Leopoldo has only been serving the poor farmers of Nueva Ecija since
martial law years.
Leopoldo was first arrested in 1981. He was subjected to
torture. He was released the following year with the help of local government
officials.
Julieta said the family has gone through a lot. Her son
Arturo was gunned down by soldiers under Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan on
March 4, 2006. Arturo, a local leader of Bayan Muna in their hometown, was 28
when he was killed.
Julieta has yet to break the news to her two daughters, one
of whom is pregnant with her fist child.
She visited Leopoldo on Oct. 3 at the New Bilibid Prisons, Muntilupa City
http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/10/19/ndfp-consultants-convicted-of-trumped-up-charges/
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