The court dismissed on December 16 a criminal case regarding the alleged killing of individuals in the 1980s and the alleged burying of their cadavers in a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte. In the decision, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 granted the demurrers to evidence used to charge Satur Ocampo, Rafael Baylosis, Adelberto Silva, Norberto Murillo, Dario Tomada, Oscar Belleza, Exuperio Lloren and Vicente Ladlad.
On top of this, the court also dismissed similar charges against Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, Lino Salazar, Presillano Beringel, Luzviminda Orillo, Muco Lubong and Felix Dumali. Thirty-eight individuals were charged in connection with this case. The court ordered the immediate release of all individuals detained based on this case.
According to the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, the court dismissed the trumped-up charges because the prosecutors failed to prove the primary crime of murder of the 15 individuals. It said that the prosecutors failed to scientifically prove that the skeletal remains belong to the alleged victims. It added that the court found infirmities to the testimonies of “witnesses.”
The case started in 2006 when a soldier under the 43rd IB claimed that “noises” he heard in Mt. Sapang Dako are that of “ghosts” of individuals who were allegedly slain by the people’s army two decades ago. This “haunting” led the soldiers to dig an area where they allegedly discovered the skeletal remains of “15 individuals.”
The said “exhumed” skeletal remains were used earlier in a similar case also dismissed by the Leyte Regional Trial Court. In the said case, the skeletal remains were allegedly “exhumed” in Barangay Monterico, Baybay, Leyte in June 2000. The alleged victims include Concepcion Aragon, Juanita Aviola and Gregorio Eras—the same persons whose skeletal remains were also “exhumed” in Inopacan in 2006. Because of this, the case was dubbed as a case of “traveling skeletons.”
[Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines and is issued by the CPP Central Committee. It provides news about the work of the Party as well as its analysis of and views on current issues. Ang Bayan comes out fortnightly and is published in Pilipino, Bisaya, Ilokano, Waray, Hiligaynon and English.]
https://cppangbayan.wordpress.com/2021/12/24/court-dismisses-case-of-traveling-skeletons/
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