Religious leaders, peace advocates and teachers have condemned the conviction of ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and 11 others, collectively known as Talaingod 13, by a Davao del Norte court for child abuse.
This is justice walking on its head as the guilty verdict rendered was based on the fabrications of the military and police who illegally shut down the Dulyan campus of the Salugpungan boarding school, boarded it up, shuttered all windows and doors and ordered the teachers to leave on Nov. 28, 2018 at the height of the Duterte campaign against indigenous people (IP.) The illegal shutdown of the school by the military and the paramilitary unit Alamara at 5 p.m. caused the teachers and pupils to ask their tormentors to allow them to leave at dawn but they refused, forcing them to leave for a safer place.
“The teachers, exercising substitute parental responsibility, chose not to abandon the minor students in such a hostile environment. No one imagined that the teachers and those who took the risks to fetch the students would be the ones charged and found guilty of ‘child abuse.’ The trumped-up charge of ‘child abuse’ is a clear case of weaponizing the law to harass progressive teachers and human rights defenders supporting the cause of the Lumad,” Pilgrims for Peace argued in a statement denouncing the verdict. More than 70 religious and IP leaders, peace advocates, teachers, lawyers and church workers signed the statement, led by Most Rev. Gerardo A. Alminaza, DD, Bishop, Diocese of San Carlos and convenor of Pilgrims for Peace, Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), Bishop Daniel R. Palicte, UCCP, Southeast Mindanao Jurisdiction, Dr. Carol Araullo, Pilgrims for Peace convenor and Rev. Danilo Marmol, chairperson of the United Methodist Church-Board of Church and Society (UMC-BCS.)
“We, peace advocates, wish to register our concern on this wrongful conviction for child abuse under RA 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act). The Salugpungan schools teach Lumad students essential skills in reading, writing, mathematics, science and agriculture. It is the intervention of the military aimed at denying such relevant education to indigenous children that should be considered child abuse,” Pilgrims for Peace added. “The actions of the teachers and those who brought vans to transport them to safety were a rational response intended to protect the minor students. The children were exposed to a precarious situation caused by the illegal and forcible closure of their school,” the statement explained.
“Under such circumstances, the right to education has been denied to Lumad children. Even worse, the children’s teachers have been harassed and are now under imminent threat of imprisonment for exercising their special parental authority. What is the State trying to teach these children? In forcibly closing the Salugpungan schools, the Lumad children were denied access to education and deep understanding of their indigenous culture. They learned from their ordeal that the law can be used to persecute those who help protect them,” Pilgrims for Peace added.
It appears that the verdict is not only absurd but thoroughly irrational. We have grown wise to the idea that Lady Justice is blindfolded and must render decisions based on facts and not succumb to the blandishments of the powerful, the mighty and the wealthy. When a court bases its judgment on the representations by the oppressors of teachers and minors, it makes a mockery of the law and twists justice into knots. That the military ordered the shutdown of the school for unknown reasons is, in itself, a justiciable issue that the prosecutors and the judge, conveniently refused to see and hear. This anomalous decision, in fact, should allow the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court (SC) to investigate the judge for the patently unjust decision. It has been denounced globally, a black eye on the Marcos Jr. government that prides itself as a champion of human rights but a practitioner of human wrongs.
“We urge a thorough study and review of the facts, background and context of why the teachers and students left Dulyan campus in the evening of November 28, 2018 as well as on why the Lumad school was closed upon orders of the military. We understand that these issues, among others, will be raised on appeal. We pray that in reviewing the case on appeal will lead to a reversal of the conviction, as the efforts of the teachers and those who participated in the solidarity mission to protect the children will be recognized. Weaponization of the law should not be tolerated,” Pilgrims for Peace concluded.
The courts are supposed to be co-equal of the legislative and executive branches of the Philippine government. Thus, it is not a minnow among the three branches, and must render justice based on facts, evidence and unquestionable law. Without these bases, judicial proceedings cannot be fair, balanced or unassailable. Imprisoning the Talaingod 13 for protecting 14 minors from the rampaging Alamara gunmen and their military cohorts and tagging them guilty of “child abuse” doesn’t taste, smell or look like justice. After noting the circumstances that led to the filing of the child abuse case, any prosecutor worth his salt should have dismissed it, or simply argue that the case calls for “nolle prosequi.” Yet, they allowed it to run its bad course. Isaiah Berlin’s classic quip “freedom for the wolves, death for the sheep” rings true under an inverted judicial system. No wonder many believe in the Latin maxim “Arma in armatos sumere jura sinunt,” which translates in English as “The law permits us to take up arms against the armed.”
