Prosecutors junk raps vs. BAYAN members over effigy-burning

The Quezon City Prosecutor's Office has dismissed the complaint against members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) over the burning of an effigy of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. during a State of Nation Address (SONA) rally last July.

In a five-page resolution, prosecutors found that the two complainants from the Quezon City police, Police Staff Sergeant Mario Sembrano, and Police Corporal Paolo Navarro, failed to present evidence "to form a prima facie case" against Max Santiago, the artist of the effigy, and three John Does.

"After due and careful consideration and the evidence on record, this Office finds no probable cause to charge the Respondents for the crime of Violation of Section 48, paragraph 3 of Republic Act No. 9003 otherwise known as the 'Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000' and Violation of Republic Act No. 8749 otherwise known as 'The Clean Air Act of 1999," the resolution read.

GMA News Online obtained Wednesday a copy of the resolution, which was dated Nov. 10.

Prosecutors said that the burning of the effigy along Commonwealth Avenue on July 24 was "clearly beyond the area of responsibility" of the complainants, who were assigned at Anonas police station.

Saying the policemen failed to establish that they were deployed in the Commonwealth area at the time of the SONA, prosecutors asserted that Sembrano and Navarro did not appear to have personal knowledge of the alleged violations.

"Thus, it would appear based on evidence at hand that the only basis of the complainants for instituting the present complaint is the photos lifted from the social media, Facebook," the resolution read.

Sembrano and Navarro had alleged that Bayan's act contributed to air pollution, endangering public health and the environment.

However, prosecutors said there was no certification from a competent authority "stating that the effigy falls under the definition of 'solid waste,'" which would include household, commercial waste, non-hazardous institutional and industrial waste, among others, as provided under Section 3 of RA 9003.

"To stress, an allegation is not evidence and could not be made equivalent to proof. Simply stated, there is no evidence sufficient to engender a well-founded belief that Respondents violated" the law related to the open burning of solid waste.

The respondents were also accused of violating Section 20 of RA 8749 for the alleged act of "incineration." However, prosecutors found that "there is no document that would support a finding that the burning of the 'doble kara' effigy is tantamount to incineration," which would emit toxic fumes.

"All told, this Office finds that the evidence fails to form a prima facie case of violation of the provisions of Republic Act Nos. 9003 and 8749. Consequently, the complaint against them must be dismissed," the resolution read.

In their complaint, Sembrano and Navarro had alleged that the burning "doble cara effigy' of President Marcos was conducted "under the supervision of [Bayan's] President, Renato M. Reyes Jr."

However, Reyes called the complaint a "harassment suit," saying he was not even present during the SONA rally.

"This ridiculous trumped-up complaint it seems is in retaliation for our public statements exposing the QCPD for its harassment of Max and our members from Bayan Southern Tagalog,” Reyes said, who had vowed to file a complaint against the two policemen. —VDV, GMA Integrated News