3. The state prosecutor violated my right to due process.
Prosecutor Vivero denied my demand for a clarificatory hearing. He did
not furnish me a copy of the supplemental affidavit of Piedad, thus
denying my right to refute the revision Piedad made to his original
affidavit. I did not receive the prosecutor’s 16 February 2007
resolution, finding probable cause in the case and recommending arrest
and detention without bail, and the information filed in court on 28
February 2007. It was only days after the issuance of the warrant of
arrest dated 6 March 2007 that I got a copy of the said resolution and
information filed in court, thus depriving me the right to refute the
same and seek a motion for reconsideration.
4. In my Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition to the Supreme
Court, I enumerated seven (7) bases, any of which is sufficient for
the nullification of the prosecutor’s resolution and information and
the judge’s ruling of probable cause and issued warrant of arrest. To
wit:
1. The prosecutor did not comply with the mandatory
requirements on affidavits, which witnesses should have sworn by
before him personally;
2. I, along with five other legislators, am already
charged with rebellion, filed last year by the police. All common
crimes allegedly committed in the course of rebellion, including the
alleged murders in Leyte, are considered subsumed in the rebellion
case;
3. The basis for finding probable cause for charging me
stems from perjured testimonies;
4. No proof of conspiracy was presented, as required by
law and jurisprudence;
5. No corpus delicti was produced. The 67 skeletons
exhumed in alleged Leyte “mass graves” were not identified through
forensic investigation and DNA testing;
6. The prescription period has lapsed. The crimes
attributed to me happened in 1984 to 1985, or more than 20 years ago;
and
7. The prosecution and the judge admitted and used
sworn affidavits of the self-admitted murderers—apparently the most
guilty—as evidence to pin me down. This is a practice prohibited by
law and the rulings of the Supreme Court.
The Philippines has been beset with political instability, manifested
in sustained actions against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on
charges of corruption, electoral fraud, cover-up of crimes and gross
human rights violations. Bayan Muna and I actively worked for the
impeachment of President Arroyo on these charges, particularly the
escalating political killings against members of Bayan Muna and other
opposition parties, the media, church workers, and human rights
activists. More than 838 people have been murdered since 2001.
Without providing proof, the Arroyo administration and the Armed
Forces of the Philippines has repeatedly tagged my party, Bayan Muna,
as a communist front and an “enemy of the state”. My party bore the
main brunt of harassment and extrajudicial killings believed to be
perpetrated by state security forces — 130 Bayan Muna members and
officers have already been killed since 2001. Despite this, my party
consistently topped the party-list elections in 2001 and in 2004.
It is my firm view that all these trumped-up charges, the political
killings, and various forms of harassment are intended to discredit me
and my party before the people and to stop us from winning again in
the party-list elections in 14 May 2007.
REP. SATUR C. OCAMPO
Member of the House of Representatives
Bayan Muna (People First Party)
