Aetas claim coercion, bribery, to malign AFP, govt.

THE effort by opponents of RA 11479, otherwise known as the ‘Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020,’ to have it junked by the Supreme Court (SC), suffered a major blow after two indigenous members of the Aeta tribe in Zambales decided to recant a joint affidavit prepared on their behalf last month by the ‘National Union of People’s Lawyers’ (NUPL), a lawyers group known to represent the top leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

On the second day of the oral argument on the legality and constitutionality of RA 11479, at the SC last February 9, 2021, Solicitor General Jose Callangan Calida, speaking on behalf of the government and in favor of the law, was cut short in his presentation by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, as regards ‘Junior Ramos’ and ‘Japer Gurung,’ by declaring that earlier in the day, the magistrates voted “unanimously” to throw their affidavit prepared by the NUPL, meaning, it can no longer be used as evidence and argument by those opposed to the law.

During the first oral argument held last February 2, 2021, the NUPL, one of the 37 petitioners against RA 11479, presented as an “active case,” by way of a “petition for intervention” the joint affidavit the NUPL prepared on behalf of the two IPs and which both “signed” last January 30, 2021, while in detention at the Olongapo City Jail.

The presentation of the affidavit as “evidence” came after members of the bench, in particular, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, asked the petitioners if there is already an “active case” that the magistrates can deliberate on and determined if other laws and the Constitution have been violated by the government in the enactment and implementation of RA 11479.

The SC, later on said it decided to set aside the NUPL-prepared statement as Ramos and Gurung are now facing a court case.

“Pinilit, nakulitan lang kami”

Ramos ang Gurung were arrested and charged in court for violation of RA 11479 by the military in September 2020 for being members of the ‘New People’s Army,’ the armed group of the ‘Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP-NPA). Both have been proscribed as “terrorist organizations” under the RA 11479, as well as by the European Union, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, among others.

Their arrest followed an armed encounter between the NPA and the Philippine Army a month before where one soldier was killed.

The NUPL and other CPP-front organizations had a field day denouncing the government and the military for gross human rights violations after Ramos and Gurung, in the statement procured by the NUPL, claimed that they were heavily tortured by soldiers and even made to eat their feces in order to make them confessed as NPA members.

But last week, the two said they were actually badgered and even bribed by NUPL lawyers to sign the affidavit that they also actually do not understand because they are ‘no read, no write.’

They added that not only where they badgered and bribed with P500 each but also, deceived by the NUPL by making them believe the affidavit could help them get out of prison.

Paragraph 3 and 4 of the new affidavit they signed withdrawing their petition before the SC and the NUPL as their counsel, stated:

“3. We came to understand today that the document we signed was a petition to nullify the Anti-Terror Act of 2020. In all verity, we signed the document with full hesitations and out of pure sheer annoyance because of NUPL persistence. They came back and forth prodding us “Pabalik balik sila kaya nakulitan na kami kaya napilitan na kaming pumirma. They came back and forth, because of such, we involuntarily signed.

“4. Furthermore, I Japer Gurung was so adamant not to sign the document, that’s why initially I did not pay attention to them, I did not bother to talk nor cooperate. It was only my brother-in- law, Junior Ramos who was talking with them. As the conversation goes deeper, I heard NUPL saying to my brother-in-law, “Bakit di nakikipag usap kasama mo, Kung ayaw niyang tumulong hayaan mo di namin siyang tutulungan, mabulok siya sa bilanguan.” (Why is your companion not talking to us. If he does not want to help and cooperate, we will not help him. He will rot in jail.”

With the latest development, the petitioners, mostly, front organizations of the CPP, have lost not only their ‘evidence’ against the ATA but also, the NUPL’s credibility as a lawyers group sworn to always uphold every lawyer’s ‘Code of Professional Responsibility’ approved by the SC and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in 1988.

Canon 1 of the CPR states: “A lawyer shall not engage in unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful conduct,” while further, Canon 10 admonishes all lawyers:

“A lawyer shall not do any falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in Court; nor shall he mislead, or allow the Court to be misled by any artifice.”