Second complaint vs. Bayan members over effigy-burning junked

Quezon City prosecutors have dismissed the second complaint against members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) over the burning of an effigy of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. during a rally in July last year.

The Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) dismissed the complaint against the Bayan president Renato Reyes and Maximo Santiago, the artist of the effigy, for violation of Section 13, 3(g) of Batas Pambansa Bilang 880 (BP 880) or the Public Assembly Act of 1985.

Reyes posted photos of the OCP resolution on X (formerly Twitter).

"Upon evaluation of the evidence, the undersigned finds no probable cause to indict respondents," the OCP said.

The complainants were Police Staff Sergeant Mario Sembrano and Police Corporal Paolo Navarro, both of the QC Police District (QCPD). They also stood as the same complainants in a separate complaint regarding the effigy-burning against Santiago and three John Does, which the QC Prosecutor's Office dismissed in November last year.

In its new decision, the OCP said that although there was "no doubt" that an effigy was "maliciously burned," there was no clear evidence presented that Reyes and Santiago were the ones responsible for the burning.

The OCP said that the video links provided by the complainants had nothing to do with the burning of the effigy. There was also no evidence to show that Reyes supervised the burning.

"There being no proof of the identity of the respondents as the same persons involved in the complained act, the undersigned is constrained to dismiss the complaint," it said.

The OCP also clarified that there is no Section 13, 3(g) in BP 880 and was deemed as a typographical error on the part of the complainants.

In his statement on X, Reyes said that Bayan considers the dismissal to be "a legal victory."

Despite this, he took exception to the prosecutors' remark that the burning was malicious.

"We express our strong reservation that the effigy burning was malicious as we consider such part of protected free speech. The findings of a malicious burning of the effigy is not supported by facts and by law," he said.

"BP 880 is a Marcos-era law that needs to be repealed," he added.

In November 2023, the QC OCP dismissed Sembrano and Navarro's complaint over the burning of the effigy for violation of the Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000 and The Clean Air Act of 1999.

The OCP said the complainants failed to present evidence "to form a prima facie case" against Santiago and others. — VDV, GMA Integrated News