Esperon dismayed over dismissal of ‘Inopacan Massacre’ case

NATIONAL Security adviser, Hermogenes Esperon expressed dismay over the dismissal, on a technicality, of the murder charges the government filed against the top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) related to the infamous ‘Inopacan Massacre’ perpetrated by the terrorist group in the island-province of Leyte in 1985.

“We are deeply saddened and dismayed with the news that the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32, under Presiding Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina, has granted the demurrers to evidence resulting in the acquittal of known communists,” Esperon said.

In a 97-page decision the court released last December 16, 2021, the court granted the demurrer to evidence submitted by 8 of the original 36 CPP leaders charged before the court for the massacre.

At the top of the list is CPP founder Jose Maria Sison, who was not dropped by the court from the case.

The eight petitioners favored by the court’s decision are all former and current central committee members of the CPP, namely:

Former Bayan Muna representative and newsman, Satur Ocampo; Vicente Ladlad, Adelberto Silva; Rafael Baylosis; Norberto Murillo; Dario Tomada; Oscar Belleza; and, Exuperio Lloren.

The decision also dismissed the murder charges against former CPP chair, benito Tiamzon, his wife and former CPP secretary general Wilma; Felomino Salazar; Presillano Beringel; Luzviminda Orillo; Muco Lubong; and, Felix Dumali.

In expressing his dismay, Esperon noted it is already an established rule that once a demurrer to evidence has been granted in a criminal case, the grant amounts to an acquittal.

“The clear intention behind the Inopacan massacre case is to stand, speak, and obtain justice for the dead— the victims and their families.

“With the purest intentions, we fought for what is right and the truth. We hoped that light will shine and pass through even in the eye of the needle,” said Esperon, under whose term as AFP chief in 2006 the horrendous massacre was finally discovered by the military based on information provided by civilians and survivors.

Hope turned to dismay

The massacre was a result of the paranoia that regularly gripped the minds of the CPP leadership after encountering serious setbacks and debacles, especially in the 1980s when it instigated several bloody “purging operations” all over the country in an effort to ‘ferret out’ suspected government informants.

For the poor residents of Inopacan, this meant the wholesale massacre of the residents of their villages by the CPP’s armed wing, the New People’s Army; when the first mass grave was unearthed in 2006, at least 67 skeletal remains were discovered.

Intent on bringing justice to the victims, Esperon prodded the government to file cases against the CPP leadership headed by Sison.

Initial court proceedings raised the hope that justice for the victims is forthcoming when Judge Medina last August 22, 2019, acceded to a full-blown trial.

About a week later, on August 28, 2019, exactly 34 years after the Inopacan mass grave was found, Judge Medina also issued a warrant of arrest for all the accused totaling 36 CPP national and regional leaders.

After much delay, formal trial begun on November 16, 2020, with Esperon personally in attendance.

“Although, the ruling amounted to an acquittal, the same does not mean that the criminal charge for the horrendous massacre was not committed,” Esperon continued.

“The grim fate suffered by the Inopacan massacre victims in the evil hands of Joma Sison and his co-defendants remains,” he stressed.

In effectively dismissing the case, the court averred the government, presented “no forensic or substantial evidence… to prove that the skeletal remains allegedly dug up from the alleged grave site in Mt. Sapang Dako, Kaulisihan, Inopacan, Leyte, belong to any of the alleged victims in these cases.”

“The testimonies of the prosecution witnesses on the identities of the skeletal remains are full of inconsistencies, highly unbelievable and clearly perjured,” the decision added.

Judge Medina also rejected the court testimonies of former CPP-NPA members who had surrendered and have knowledge of the incident, believing their testimonies “are not only uncorroborated, they are also incredible and untrustworthy.”

Esperon added that while they “respect” the court’s decision, “the technical victory of the communists in this case does not obliterate in the eyes of history and of the people their brutal killing fields and summary executions without due process – the emblem of their egregious and blatant disrespect of human rights and sanctity to life which they purport to protect.”

Last December 22, 2021, pro-democracy and civil society groups staged a peaceful protest action in Manila, to protest the court’s decision.

In a news dispatch, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported that members of League of Parents of the Philippines (LPP) or the Liga ng mga Magulang Liga Independencia Pilipinas (LIPI), Sulong Maralita, Hands Off Our Children (HOOC), and Yakap ng Magulang, staged the rally along Morayta Street, near Malacañan Palace.

“We, as parents, strongly condemn the decision of Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina by dismissing it by mere technicality,” LPP chair Remy Rosadio said during the protest rally.

LIPI President Jose Antonio Goitia, for his part, described the Manila RTC’s decision as “regrettable” and a major setback to the country’s fight against communist insurgency.

“The setback does not rule out the possibility that the CPP-NPA-NDF is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” Goitia pointed out however.

The protesters also burned the effigy of Sison and the symbols of the party-list fronts of the CPP in order to convey their rejection of the CPP and its use of armed struggle to install a communist dictatorship in the country.