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Happy About the Release of Satur Ocampo
But Still Indignant Over the False Charges
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
5 April 2007
I am happy about the release of Satur Ocampo from detention, temporary as it
may be at the moment. In this regard, I congratulate him for his courage and
tenacity and his lawyers led by Atty. Romeo Capulong for their high legal
competence and successful defense which should be beneficial to the co-accused
who are equally falsely charged.
I am also glad to take note of the broad mass support for Satur against his
persecution. In this connection, I commend his partylist organization, the
mass movement, allies and solidarity groups both in the Philippines and in
different parts of the world who have campaigned for his release.
But I am still indignant over the patently false charge in Leyte against Satur
and his co-accused, including Luis Jalandoni and myself, especially because
the Arroyo regime and its military minions blatantly continue to persecute
us by using false charges.
In the first place, Satur should have never been detained. At a speedy rate, the
Supreme Court should have declared the patent falsity and baselessness of the
charges and adopted firm sanctions against those who fabricated the charges
and used them for the purpose of persecution and repression under the
direction of the Arroyo regime.
It is a matter of public record that Satur and I were separately in maximum
security detention in the years of 1984 to 1986 (he in Bicutan and I in Fort
Bonifacio) and we did not have any authority in any party or armed organization.
It has also been well-ventilated by the legal experts that, on several compelling
grounds, the charges should have been thrown to the wastebasket at once.
These grounds include: the charge of murder is subject to a 20-year prescriptive
period, the charge of rebellion as a political offense absorbs all other criminal
allegations related to it, the charges of rebellion against Satur and his co-accused
have been covered by general amnesty in 1987, the glaring inconsistencies and
recycled evidence put into serious question the finding of probable cause, and
many other factual and legal badges of persecution which the GRP Supreme
Court must inevitably confirm in conformity with basic rules of due process and
fairness.
Once again, the highly questionable and scandalously dirty tricks of the Arroyo
regime have backfired. We are gratified that these false charges are being
exposed for what they are - manifestations of state terrorism under the all-out
war policy of the Arroyo regime and the Bush global war of terror. ###
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