Malolos court junks terror case vs. activists

A Malolos court has dismissed a terror case against several activists, including Bayan Muna secretary general Nath Santiago and Anakpawis leader Jun Luna, Bayan president Renato Reyes said Thursday.

In an 11-page joint order penned by Presiding Judge Julie Mercurio dated September 3, the Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 12 dismissed the case for violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 against 34 activists for lack of probable cause.

“[T]he Court finds that, based on the information, as well as their supporting documents, there is no probable cause to hold all the accused for trial in the present cases,” the court said.

Reyes shared portions of the decision on his X (formerly Twitter) account. GMA News Online was provided a copy of the court decision by the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL).

In its decision, the court said that the evidence presented was not sufficient to show that all the 34 accused were present and were in possession of ammunition, explosives, and other weapons during the armed encounter in October 2023. 

It said that the complainants were also unable to establish and explain that the individuals they encountered were the same individuals being charged in the case as they said they only saw 20 armed individuals.

“They merely stated that they were able to recognize the faces of the alleged members of the Kilusang Larangan Guerilla-Sierra Madre off the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front as the same persons as the 34 accused in these cases based on the documents and pictures appearing in the periodic status report which was shown to them during the briefing,” the court said.

However, the court said that the active participation of each accused in the commission of the acts of terrorism must be clear and supported by competent evidence.—AOL, GMA Integrated News