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WHATEVER case the government has against Rep. Satur
Ocampo, it should not rush to judgment. It should respect the law
and give the congressman due process.
No good is served by cutting
legal corners and abbreviating the system. The sudden arrest of
Ocampo, the haste to whisk him by plane to Leyte in the dark of
night, efforts to cut him off the media and the public—these
surprises and curtailments violate civil rights and legal
guarantees.
The authorities claim Ocampo was
responsible or had a role in the mass killing of renegade party
members 22 years ago in Inopacan, Leyte. Ocampo has denied the
charge and said he was in prison at the time.
Just the same, a proclamation
issued by President Corazon Aquino in 1987 granted full and complete
amnesty to persons who may have committed any act penalized under
existing laws in furtherance of their political beliefs, a move that
favored Ocampo and other CPP members. Subsequently he was lawfully
elected congressman under the party-list system, representing Bayan
Muna, one of the few that obtained three seats in the House.
The case against Satur becomes
doubly questionable because it comes on the onset of the campaign
period. The attempt to stifle his voice and to warn other militant
party-list organizations is undisguised, chorus the partisans. The
arrest order cannot escape the tag of harassment. The attempt to fly
him to Leyte face a trial judge reflected panic.
To give a human-interest touch to
his plight, the video clip of Ocampo’s determined struggle to
resist boarding the plane and the police officers’ strong-arm
effort to push him inside, traveled around the country and the
world. The plane had scarcely made a halfway flight when the
government ordered the pilot to return to Manila. And why—may we
ask—did the police use a private Cessna aircraft instead of a
government plane?
Filipino and international
observers are following the Ocampo case closely because the
political climate is inhospitable to left-of-center politics. The
United States Congress has opened a probe into the killing of
activists following a similar effort by United Nations
representative Philip Alston. Several Armed Forces officials have
publicly declared war on militant party-groups as May 14 nears.
The worry grew as the AFP fielded
troops in Metro Manila’s streets ostensibly to fight urban
insurgency. Simultaneously, the government will soon enforce a new
anti-insurgency law, which civil libertarians claim would further
repress human rights and constitutional liberties.
Does Ocampo have a hand in the
mass killings being laid at his doorstep? This is a case for the
government to prove. Satur seems prepared to argue his case. He was
man enough to turn himself in and not flee the law, as others
similarly charged have done. Instead of going underground, the
congressman has appealed to the courts.
The law should hear his case as
expeditiously and fairly as possible. He should be allowed to
campaign, because he represents more than a congressional district;
he represents a national constituency. He leads a cause with a very
big following, a party that offers voters genuine options, unlike
the two mainstream political machines that echo each other’s
platforms.
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