Environmentalists ask DOJ to reconsider defamation indictment

Environmental activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro on Tuesday asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reconsider its resolution that indicted them for grave oral defamation over their claim that they were abducted by government forces.

Tamano and Castro also asked the Supreme Court to decide on their petition for a writ of amparo and habeas data.

"Kasabay nito ay nakikiisa kami sa panawagan na ibasura ang iba pang gawa-gawang kaso sa mga tulad naming aktibista," they said in a joint statement shared by human rights group Karapatan.  

(We are also joining the call to dismiss trumped-up charges against activists like us.)

"Paghamon ang mga ito sa mismong justice system na pumanig sa mga biktima at panagutin ang mga tunay na may sala, ahente man ito ng estado," they added.

(This is a challenge to our justice system to go to the side of victims and hold accountable those who are responsible, even if they are government agents.)

In September last year, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) claimed that Tamano and Castro surrendered to the 70th Infantry Batallion (IB) in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan. It presented the two at a press conference purportedly to debunk reports of their abduction. However, the activists said they were kidnapped by the military.

In a resolution dated in December, DOJ prosecutors recommended that Tamano and Castro be separately charged for grave oral defamation under Article 385 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). The initial complaint against them was for perjury.

The prosecutors said they were not inclined to believe Tamano and Castro's claim that their statement was made under duress. They also said they were not persuaded that the two were abducted.

Tamano and Castro, for their part, said they were dismayed with the resolution.

They maintained that they were abducted by the military and were "placed under psychological torture" to go with the story allegedly crafted by the NTF-ELCAC.

"Pinatunayan ng desisyong ito na tama ang pagkuwestyon namin sa kakayahan ng DOJ na maging patas sa imbestigasyon, dahil una pa lang ay nagbigay na ng malisyosong pahayag si DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla na ang aming ginawa ay parte lang ng 'CPP-NPA's new playbook,'" they said.

(This decision proves that we were right to question the DOJ's capability to conduct a fair investigation. DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla made a malicious statement when he said that what we did was part of the 'CPP-NPA's new playbook.')

GMA News Online has sought comment from the DOJ but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.

In November, Tamano and Castro questioned the Justice Department's impartiality in the preliminary probe of the complaint, alleging that Remulla had pre-judged the case.

The two stressed that the complaint filed against them was a form of harassment.

Abductors as victims?

Meanwhile, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said the resolution was an attack on freedom of expression in the country. Palabay said the resolution also belied pronouncements by the DOJ where they encourage victims to come forward.

"Instead of considering the harrowing accounts of Jhed and Jonila on their abduction, captivity and torture, the DOJ made their abductors look like the victims in this whole incident," Palabay said in a separate statement.

She also called on the Supreme Court to grant Tamano and Castro's petition.

"We will stand by Jhed and Jonila. They represent the victims of abduction and enforced disappearance who are being gagged in speaking out the truth of a State that carries out a campaign of repression against the people," Palabay said. — VDV, GMA Integrated News