BY REINIR PADUA
Rep. Satur Ocampo, who is being hunted by the
police for multiple murder, has posted two videos at the website
YouTube calling on the international community to reject the
"lies" of the government in tagging him in the purge in the
rebel movement while he was in detention 20 years ago.
Ocampo of the militant party-list group Bayan
Muna said the multiple murder charges were attended by "legal
shortcuts and violations of due process."
An arrest warrant was issued last week by
judge in Leyte where the victims of the purge were allegedly
buried in mass graves.
The PNP advised Ocampo to surrender.
PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Samuel D. Pagdilao
Jr. said Ocampo should answer the charges in the "proper forum."
Pagdilao expressed optimism Ocampo would soon
be arrested.
"We just have to be patient because our
operatives are working. He can run but he cannot hide. He has to
answer the charges," he said.
Pagdilao said he believes Ocampo is being
coddled by the underground movement.
In the six-minute video posted on http://youtube.com/bayanmunadotnet,
Ocampo said the fact that the government’s Oplan Bantay Laya
targets both armed combatants and unarmed activists and tags
Bayan Muna as a communist front explains both the political
killings and the political persecution of anti-Arroyo members of
Congress.
YouTube allows anybody with a computer linked
to the Internet to post video clips for free.
CASE TRANSFER URGED
In a press conference, Ocampo’s wife Carolina
"Bobbie" Malay and the wives of Ocampo’s three other co-accused
– Vicente Ladlad, Randal Echanis and Rafael Baylosis – demanded
the transfer of their cases to Manila, fearing the military and
the police "can do anything" to the political activists if they
are detained in Leyte.
Malay, Fides Lim Ladlad, Linda Lacaba Echanis
and Lualhati Roque Baylosis said they would hold government and
security forces liable "should any harm befall our husbands amid
the unabated trend of extra-judicial killings of political
activists nationwide."
The group’s lead counsel, Romeo Capulong,
said in earlier interviews they would question the murder cases
before the Supreme Court.
Ladlad said her husband’s lawyer, Ernest
Francisco, will file the "necessary motion and appeal" for them
to be detained in Manila once they surface.
Malay expressed fear the distance between
Manila and Leyte would make it difficult for her and their
family to visit Ocampo if the latter is detained in the
province.
FOOT DRAGGING
The women said their husbands would surface
at the proper time and were just preparing their motion to be
presented in court.
Malay blamed the "foot dragging on the part
of the justice system" for the delay in the preparation of their
husbands’ defense.
She said the documents needed by the defense
were not transmitted early and it was only the other day when
they got a certified true copy of the court’s order issuing the
warrant of arrest.
She said some of the affidavits of the
witnesses against the activists were being amended.
Bayan Muna said more videos will be uploaded
on YouTube.
"These videos are addressed to Bayan Muna
members and the millions who have made Bayan Muna the Number One
party list in surveys and actual elections," the group said in a
statement.
"We intend to maximize our YouTube channel
for our national and international re-election campaign," the
group said.
MORE CHARGES VS JOMA
Ocampo’s co-accused, self-exiled communist
leader Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, also faces three rebellion
charges in Negros Occidental.
Insp. Perfecto Goc-ong, chief of the Negros
Occidental police investigation branch, said Sison and several
top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines, including
those based on Negros island, are facing rebellion charges in
connection with the separate raids on the Silay airport and
police outposts in the cities of Escalante and Sipalay as well
as the burning of a cargo truck in Toboso last last year.
Goc-ong said other respondents are CPP
spokesman Gregorio Rosal alias Ka Roger, rebel priest Frank
Fernandez, his wife Cleofe Lagtapon, Bayani Obrero, Martin
Manta, Romeo Mata, Roberto Marapo, Arlos Vargas, Nadit Patigas,
Leopoldo Ilustrisimo, Ricky Larit, Armando Sumayang, Arlen
Baynosa, Dionesio Sabanal, Noel Vergara, Alvin Mehania, Paulino
Anton, Arturo Moleta and 30 John Does.
The damage to the Silay airport was placed at
P50 million, the police said.
Police said nine firearms were taken by
rebels from the Malasibog police outpost in Escalante on March
19 last year.
Goc-ong said Sison was excluded from the list
of respondents in the rebellion case in connection with the
Malasibog police outpost raid.
The raid on the San Jose police outpost in
Sipalay City in November last year by an estimated 30 armed
rebels was repulsed by three policemen manning the detachment,
police said.
The burning of the Alter Trade truck in Barangay Tabun-ak,
Toboso, was claimed by the New People’s Army. Alter Trade
management reportedly refused to pay P30 million in
"revolutionary taxes," police said. – With Raymond Africa
and Gilbert Bayoran
