Capas court dismisses charges vs. Tinang farmers

The Capas Municipal Trial Court on Monday dismissed charges of illegal assembly and malicious mischief against the farmers who participated in a cultivation activity in Barangay Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac earlier this month.

In its 13-page decision, the court junked the illegal assembly charges for being "duplicitous" and for "failure to allege the essential facts constituting the particular kind of illegal assembly falling under the jurisdiction of the first-level court."

According to the court, none of the enumerated acts that can be penalized under Presidential Decree 1829 appeared in the information filed against the farmers.

“Hence, the alleged acts could not possibly constitute as violation of PD 1829,” it said.

Further, the court said that responding police officers who arrested the accused were not able to confiscate or present evidence of a firearm.

“Without the so-called 'smoking gun'… wherein the information alleges that: ‘ang iba sa kanila ay nakita namin na may hawak na armas’, such baseless allegation will not support the requirement of sufficiency of ‘the acts of omissions complained as of constituting the offense’,” it said.

The court also dismissed the charges of malicious mischief on the grounds that the facts charged do not constitute an offense; the third element of malicious mischief was not alleged; and the Court has no jurisdiction over the subject matter.

The Court said the information failed to allege “that the offender acted due to hate, revenge, or other evil motive” or simply damaged a property “for the sake of damaging it.”

“Without the third element of the crime being alleged in the information, it will be invalid for being a violation of the fundamental right of the accused to be informed of the nature of the cause of the accusation against him,” it said.

“On this ground alone, the assailed information should be quashed,” it added.

The Court referred the case to the DAR Provincial Office in Tarlac for proper action.

“Finally, finding the prayer that the agrarian dispute aspect of the Malicious mischief case be referred to the Department of Agrarian (DAR) Reform in order, the same is granted,” it read.

On June 9, dozens of farmers and their supporters were arrested during a "bungkalan" in Hacienda Tinang to mark the anniversary of the passage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) law.

Farmers group Makisama-Tinang previously said all farmers who participated in the cultivation activity are deemed qualified beneficiaries of CARP.

In a Facebook post, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas lauded the Capas Court for “recognizing the utter baselessness of the charges” against the farmers.

“Still, the struggle of the Tinang farmers continues as their formal installation as beneficiaries remain undone. The threat of additional schemes also remains as Noel Villanueva and his minions desperately cling onto the Tinang farmers' land. We remain vigilant,” it said. — BM, GMA News