Falsely accused farmer-leaders set to file charges vs police, military

BAGUIO CITY – A freed farmers group leaders in the Ilocos region Julian Daoa, Leonardo Sabalo and Rogelio Bilog are suing police and military  officials for allegedly fabricating arson cases that sent them to jail for two months.

Acquitted recently of murder and other charges in relation to NPA attack on a police station in Sta. Lucia town in Ilocos Sur, the three, all officials of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-affiliate Solidarity of Peasants against Exploitation (STOP) are lodging counter-charges with various national and international human rights bodies against Ilocos region policemen and military troopers.

Branch 71 Regional Trial Court Judge Policarpio Marti­nez dismissed a week ago murder, robbery and arson charges against Daoa, Sabalo and Bilog for lack of evidence. Martinez in his three-page decision said the policemen’s witnesses failed to identify the three. 

The trio, said Rod Tajon, spokesman of the Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA) with the aid of their legal counsel are charging CIDG, Ilocos region police and members of the Philippine Army’s 503rd Brigade at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Joint Monitoring Committee of the GRP-NDF peace panels.   

Tajon, however, refused to name who among the CIDG, PNP and military officials in Ilocos region involved in the alleged fabrication of the charges will be sued. Bilog said the charges put their lives at risk. “We are only doing what is right for the people, we fight for the rights of peasants for genuine land reform, yet police and military forces fabricate cases against us,” he said. Sabalo lamented that rumors were even spread that they have been convicted for rape and sentenced to 40 years in jail.  Their two-month detention at the Ilocos Sur Provincial Jail, according to Sabalo, adversely affected their families, explaining, “our families have been humiliated and we were publicly condemned for the crimes we did not commit.”   – Artemio Dumlao