‘No sufficient evidence’: Laguna prosecutors junk raps vs 20-yr-old rights advocate

Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Prosecutors from Santa Rosa Laguna have junked 5 criminal complaints against a 20-year-old human rights advocate and several others over their alleged involvement in an ambush of soldiers in Batangas.Prosecutors found “no sufficient evidence” to indict Hailey Jade Pecayo and several others accused of terrorism, attempted murder and violation of international humanitarian law, based on 2 consolidated resolutions dated Nov. 20, 2023.Pecayo was among those accused of being present in an armed encounter between soldiers and members of the New People&#x27;s Army in Sitio Amatong, Barangay Ginhawa in Taysan, Batangas on July 18, 2022.Sgt. Jean Claude Bacaro, who was wounded in the encounter, and Capt. Ival Neil Ogatis filed the complaints against Pecayo and some 15 others who were mostly identified by aliases.Santa Rosa, Laguna Associate City Prosecutor Christian Castro dismissed all 5 complaints for failure of complainants and their witnesses to &quot;correctly identify the respondents&quot; as perpetrators of the crimes alleged.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/25/23/un-expert-urges-law-protecting-human-rights-advocates">UN expert urges passage of law protecting human rights advocates</a></li></ul>“First, the spot report as well as the progress report failed to identify the respondents,” the resolutions said.“Second, the firefight happened in a forested area as depicted in the pictures and complainant and his witnesses were ten (10) to fifteen (15) meters away from the persons shooting them,” it added, noting that the encounter lasted for only a few minutes.The soldiers who filed the criminal complaints had presented 5 individuals who claimed to be former CPP-NPA-NDF members who allegedly identified Pecayo as being a rebel.But the prosecutor said they were not in the area when the ambush happened.“Too much emphasis on names was placed by the complainant and his witnesses in identifying the alleged wrongdoers in these cases. It is underscored that familiarity with the physical features, particularly those of the face, is actually the best way to identify the person,” he said.“Given the aforestated second and third reasons, plus the fact that the incident happened during an ambush, familiarity with the faces of the malefactors is entirely nil,” he added.Rights group coalition Karapatan hailed the dismissal.“The dismissal of the complaints of soldiers of the 59th Infantry Battalion by Office of the City Prosecutor in Sta. Rosa, Laguna exposes the fabricated lies against Pecayo and other respondents and that such charges including the terror law were made to threaten, harass and intimidate Pecayo in a desperate attempt to dissuade her from doing her work as a human rights worker,” it said in a statement.DEFEND Southern Tagalog said that with the dismissal of the complaints against Pecayo, the &quot;domino has fallen.&quot;It noted that the allegations of “rebel surrenderees” were also used against other activists and human rights defenders who are still facing terrorism raps.“In the 59th IB’s attempt to throw the kitchen sink, they only unleashed a circus: their modern rendition of the Makapili, their “rebel surrenderees”, spouted unprovable and flimsy testimonies dragging the name of Hailey Pecayo – and eventually youth rights defender John Peter Angelo Garcia – as combatants of the New People’s Army, and through the Anti-Terrorism Council’s designations, be considered terrorists. These testimonies were rightfully and reasonably brushed off by the court,” it said in a statement.“This is only proof of the Terror Law’s utility as the state’s treacherous weapon against critics and all those resisting the various attacks against their rights and liberties, and has only been allowed by the National Security Policy of the Marcos Jr administration. We reiterate the repeal of this act, which has also been used against 19 other activists and farmers in the Southern Tagalog region,” it added.Aside from Pecayo, other activists facing terrorism charges include United Methodist Church pastor Rev. Glofie Baluntong and students Kenneth Rementilla and Jasmin Rubia.Prior to the release of the resolution, Pecayo in a press conference at the Commission on Human Rights in October, expressed fear that she might be jailed over her human rights work, which she has been doing since she was 17.&quot;Bilang isang kabataan, napamahal na po ako sa mga komunidad na napupuntahan ko. Dahil sa bigo ho sila sa pag-aaral hinggil sa karapatang pantao, kaya nandito ho kami,” she explained.&quot;Sa mga taong tulad ko po, mga human rights worker, hindi po namin deserve na makulong sa kulungan. Hindi ho kami kriminal. Kami ay mga tumutulong ho sa mga taong nakakaranas ng paglabag sa mga karapatang pantao,” she said.<div>RELATED VIDEO </div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2748991" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Prosecutors from Santa Rosa Laguna junked 5 criminal complaints against a 20-year-old human rights advocate. 

‘No sufficient evidence’: Laguna prosecutors junk raps vs 20-yr-old rights advocate | ABS-CBN

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‘No sufficient evidence’: Laguna prosecutors junk raps vs 20-yr-old rights advocate

‘No sufficient evidence’: Laguna prosecutors junk raps vs 20-yr-old rights advocate

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Nov 23, 2023 12:15 PM PHT

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Santa Rosa Laguna

human rights advocate

Batangas

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