Monday, April 7, 2014

Ocampo and co-accused argued that skeletal remains in Inopacan were the same bones found in mass grave in Baybay, Leyte in 2000

In a decision dated February 11, the Supreme Court dismissed the consolidated petitions for certiorari filed by the accused and tasked the trial court to determine if the murders were committed in pursuing rebellion. Ocampo and more than 70 others were charged in connection with an alleged mass grave found in Inopacan, Leyte.

(Photo credit to Mon Ramirez / Bulatlat.com)
In a clarificatory hearing on April 1, Judge Marino dela Cruz Jr. of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 22 said the prosecutor in Leyte, referring to Rosulo Vivero, included in the case information that the accused are members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and that they ordered the killing. 

Dela Cruz said should the court determine that the case was done in pursuit of rebellion, then the charges would be dropped and a rebellion case would be filed. The court, he added, would, however, wait for the decision of the Supreme Court on the motion for reconsideration that Ocampo and his co-accused filed before the high court on March 10. 

Ocampo, in his weekly column at the Philippine Star, said “the murder charge is the only remaining court case (all instigated by the state security forces) I have to confront, fight and win. Since 1978 I have confronted eight various charges — but have never been proven guilty of any crime.”

In an interview with Bulatlat.com after the clarificatory hearing, Ocampo said, “it is as if they are inducing us to prove that (we are guilty) of rebellion so we can be charged so. But we do not want that.”


On the same day, however, the Supreme Court upheld its February 11 decision and gave the Manila Trial Court Brach 32 “the go-ahead to proceed with the multiple murder trial of former Bayan Muna Rep. Saturnino Ocampo and three other consultants of the Communist Party of the Philippines – National Democratic Front in connection with the discovery of a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte some eight years ago,” Interaksyon.com reported

No evidence

In their motion for reconsideration filed before the high court, Ocampo and his co-accused argued that the five of the 12 skeletal remains found in Inopacan, Leyte were the very same found in the alleged mass grave in Baybay, Leyte in 2000.

The petition claimed that public prosecutor Vivero misled the judge and the parties by implying that the identities of the victims have been ascertained through forensic evidence.

Petitioners also found no sufficient evidence for the warrant of arrest issued against the accused.

“The petition stated that Ocampo was detained at the time of the incident. The petition also stated that of the voluminous documents submitted by the complainants as their so-called evidence, the name of Randall Echanis was mentioned only once. The name of Rafael Baylosis, meanwhile, was mentioned by three prosecution witnesses who averred that Baylosis is one of the members of the CPP Central Committee who ordered the alleged mass killings,” a previousBulatlat.com report read.

Ocampo said that at the time that the murder charges were filed there was also an existing rebellion case pending at the Regional Trial Court of Makati.

“They did not subsume it to the rebellion case, which was dismissed in 2007,” he said.

“If the Supreme Court will not decide on our favor, we will still raise the issues before the RTC trial,” Rachel Pastores of the Public Interest Law Center, lawyer for the accused, told Bulatlat.com.

This article is a reprint
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO 

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Prosecutor wants Tiamzons in Manila jail

Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army chief Benito Tiamzon (right) and his wife, Wilma (left). Photo courtesy from  www.manilatimes.net


MANILA, Philippines—A government prosecutor involved in the multiple murder case against Benito and Wilma Tiamzon said they should be detained in the Manila City Jail and it was “utter disrespect” on the part of the Philippine National Police to ask the Manila Regional Trial Court for continued custody of the couple without consulting the prosecution.

“(The arresting officers) should have sought conformity, which they never did. We’re on the same side. (The Tiamzons) should be committed to the Manila City Jail, the nearest jail to the court,” said Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong during a clarificatory court hearing on Tuesday.

Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, chair and chief finance officer, respectively, of the Communist Party of the Philippines, are currently detained in Camp Crame in Quezon City, the national police headquarters. They are coaccused in a multiple murder case in connection with a mass grave discovered by the military in Inopacan, Leyte, in 2006.

The skeletal remains that were found were believed to be those of victims of “Operation Venereal Disease” launched by the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and National Democratic Front to purge their ranks of suspected military informers. 

This article is a reprint from Philippine Daily Inquirer
By Erika Sauler
Philippine Daily Inquirer
7:42 am | Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/591077/state-wants-tiamzons-in-manila-jail#ixzz2y8QTtSJX
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Inopacan, Leyte mass grave photos


A mass grave was discovered by elements of the 43rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in August 2006 at Sitio Mount Sapang Daco, Barangay Kaulisihan, Inopacan, Leyte.

What you will see in the photos are skeletal remains dug out in the infamous killing field in the mountainous part of Inopacan. The site has been referred to as the Garden. The bones were believed to be those of victims of “Operation Venereal Disease” (a.k.a. Oplan Ahos, or Kampanyang Ahos) launched by the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and National Democratic Front to purge their ranks of suspected military informers.

Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                                                Photo credit to Photobucket.com

While they despised and hated the rule of martial law in the lowland, we the family farmers in the mountain part of Inopacan suffered the atrocities and brutalities of the NPA rebels. The constabulary and later the army soldiers maltreated us also. We have nowhere to stay. The farmers were forced to leave the farm and settled literally within the border of the sea and land in the lowland and became fishermen. 

Then one fateful night, the rebels purged a number of males in our barrio. Some of them were fathers of my playmates. Few were our relatives.

Most of the youths left Inopacan and became house helpers and workers in Metro Manila and they stayed their until now because they have nothing to come back for. The abaca farms industry were wiped out that many believed were intentionally done by saboteur. Every week someone got lost and never came back. 

Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com

Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com

Then one fateful night, the rebels purged a number of males in our barrio. Some of them were fathers of my playmates. Few were our relatives. They brought the victims to the forest of Caulisihan, forced them to dig the ground, then blind folded them and shot them in the head. Their bodies were discovered and dug out later in 2006 from the ground dug by the victims in 1980's. The place is now referred to as the Garden.

I hate to retell the story. But must be told again because I hate more if that will happen again. 

NEVER AGAIN!

Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com
Mass graves in Inopacan, Leyte.                                             Photo credit to Photobucket.com



In August 28, 2006, skeletal remains of innocent victims of Maoist terrorist’s tyranny and violence were dug up in a mass gravesite in a ridge of Mt. Sapang Dako of Inopacan, some 370 meters above sea level, by elements of the Phil. Army’s 802nd Brigade, 8ID supported by residents and former NPA rebels who claimed to have witnessed the mass killings and have since rejoined government. The Inopacan mass murders far outweighs the many OPLANS that the Maoist terrorists ordered and under the supervision of the so-called AHOS committee headed by Jose Ma. Sison, with Satur Ocampo, Vicente Ladlad, Randall Echanis, and Rafael Baylosis. photo credit to SamarNews.com  

I hate to retell the story. But must be told again because I hate more if that will happen again.

NEVER AGAIN!


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Benito and Wilma of CPP-NPA, charged of multiple murder in relation to mass graves in Inopacan


TOP REDS Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army chief Benito Tiamzon (left) and his wife, Wilma (right).(Photo courtesy from The Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday filed criminal charges against communist rebel leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon and their five companions who were captured in Cebu last week.

In four separate information sheets filed at 8 a.m. at the Cebu City Regional Trial Court, the DOJ accused the Tiamzon couple and their companions of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and obstruction of justice.


Benito and Wilma, chair and finance officer of the  Communist Party of the Philippines, are already wanted for a multiple murder charge before the trial court in Hilongos town, Leyte. The charge is in relation to alleged mass graves in Inopacan town in Leyte purportedly of victims of communist purges in the 1980s. 



Photo credit to: www.manilatimes.net
In the new charges, the Tiamzons and three others— Joel Enano, Arlene Panea and Rex Villaflor—were cited for violating Section 1 of Republic Act No. 9516 (illegal possession of explosive and incendiary devices).

Two fragmentation grenades were allegedly recovered and confiscated from the group after they were arrested on March 22 in a joint police and military checkpoint in Barangay Zaragoza in Aloguinsan town in Cebu, 60 kilometers southwest of Cebu City.


The five were also accused of violating Section 28 (a) of RA 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act) for possession of a .5- cal. Colt pistol and three magazines with 17 rounds of ammunition, and a 9mm Norinco pistol with a magazine loaded with seven rounds of ammunition.


Enano, Panea, Villaflor as well as Nona “Lorraine” Castillo and Jeosi Nepa were separately charged for violating Presidential Decree No. 1829 (obstruction of justice) for allegedly “harboring and concealing” the Tiamzon couple. 


Photo credit to dzrhnews.com
The DOJ filed a separate charge against Castillo and Nepa for violating RA 10591 in relation to the recovery of a 9mm Kimber pistol with a magazine loaded with seven rounds of ammunition and a .357-cal. revolver with six rounds of ammunition.

The charges were filed by Assistant State Prosecutor Niven Canlapan and approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.


Lawyers of the accused, however, have claimed the firearms and grenades were “planted” by the arresting team and that only the couple’s pet dogs and a cat were found when the accused were flagged at a checkpoint on board a Hyundai Starex van and Toyota Innova multipurpose vehicle.


But in his seven-page resolution dated March 24, Canlapan found probable cause to file charges against the seven.


He said the .45-cal. pistol, 9mm Norinco, two hand grenades and ammunition were recovered from the Starex van. The 9mm Kimber pistol and .357-cal. revolver and ammunition were found in the Toyota Innova vehicle, according to the DOJ.


This article is a reprint from Philippine Daily Inquirer

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/589977/doj-files-criminal-raps-vs-communist-leaders-tiamzons-5-others#ixzz2xzlhV4hN

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