PERJURY CASE | Quezon City court acquits 10 activists, rights workers of perjury charges

January 9, 2023 , 09:47 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(January 9, 2023) – A local court in Quezon City on Monday acquitted 10 left-wing activists and human rights workers of charges of perjury, which was filed by the then-national security adviser in 2019 after they asked the high court for a protection order.

In a 45-page decision, Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) Branch 139 acquitted the officers and members of progressive women’s group Gabriela, human rights watchdog Karapatan, and church-based organization Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) on grounds of “reasonable doubt.”

“In sum, for failure of the prosecution to establish beyond reasonable doubt that all accused made a willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood, all accused must perforce be acquitted,” the decision read, based on an excerpt published by Karapatan.

The case stemmed from a complaint lodged by former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr against the three groups, accusing them of making false claims against government officials when they filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) for writ of amparo and habeas data in 2019.

He had also accused RMP of falsely claiming that it was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The three organizations filed the petition earlier in the same year after they were accused by Palace and military officials of being Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) “fronts.” But the petition was later scrapped after it was referred to the Court of Appeals (CA).

Called “red-tagging” by progressive groups, human rights groups have raised concerns that the practice has been used to silence civilian activists and government critics and potentially expose them to risk of attacks and even killings.

In a statement, Gabriela hailed the decision of the court, expressing hopes that this “augurs well for the calls to stop the attacks against human rights defenders in the country.”

For their part, Karapatan also called the decision a “victory of truth and justice,” describing the case filed against its officers a “form of judicial harassment.”

“We reiterate that this case against the national officers of Karapatan, RMP and Gabriela is malicious, and is aimed at disrupting our work – in helping victims seek justice, in defending the rights of people from violations committed by the State, and in exposing the crimes of the State and its security forces,” the group said in a separate statement.

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