THE Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) has turned down the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) petition for proscription that sought to declare as “terrorist organizations” the almost 54-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).
“Wherefore, premises considered, the instant petition is hereby dismissed,” the court ruled in the 135-page resolution dated last Sept. 21 and written by RTC Judge Marlo A. Magdoza-Malagar of Branch 19.
Dismissed was the DOJ’s petition for proscription filed on Feb. 21, 2018 based on Section 17 of Republic Act No. 9372, the Act to Secure the State and Protect Our People from Terrorism or the Human Security Act of 2007 (HSA 2007).
“Efforts on the part of the present government to counter insurgency should include respect for the right to dissent, to due process and to the rule of law. Just as the respondent organizations (CPP and NPA) are uncompromising in their ideals, so must the government be uncompromising in safeguarding the Constitution it is sworn to uphold,” Judge Malagar said.
The judge said that Section 17 of HSA 2007 defines a “terrorist organization, association, or group of persons as that which is organized for the purpose of engaging in terrorism, or which, although not organized for that purpose, actually uses the acts mentioned in this Act or commits acts to sow and create a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand….”
To prove its allegations, the DOJ presented in evidence nine incidents allegedly committed by CPP-NPA from 2019 to 2020, namely:
1. The 31 December 2019 killing of Bontola Mansinugdan in Agusan del Sur;
2. The 19 March 2020 killing of Datu Astudillo and Zaldy Ibañez in Sitio Inadan, Barangay Magroyong, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur;
3. The 04 October 2020 ambush of Datu Jumar Bucales and company at Sitio, Mamprasanon, Barangay Banahao, Lianga, Surigao del Sur;
4. The 06 July 2020 killing of Datu Jomar Engayas in Sitio Sangay, Barangay Libas-sud, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur;
5. The 16 October 2020 failed attempt to kill DepEd Teacher Eli Apacible, at Purok Hitaon, Barangay Awasian, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur;
6. The 13 August 2020 killing of 70-year-old Datu Benedicto Dinoy, in Dumalaguing Village, Impasugong, Bukidnon;
7. The 28 May 2020 burning of chapel and residential houses, in Barangay Limunda, Opol, Misamis Oriental;
8. The 30 May 2019 abduction of seven civilians, including Ryard Badiang who was later beheaded, in Barangay Maitum, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur;
9. The 21 July 2020 killing of Datu Saidor Balansi, at Sitio KM 18, Barangay Besigan, Cagayan de Oro City
But the RTC decision stated: “The eyewitness accounts of the foregoing alleged ‘terrorist’ acts of the CPP-NPA leave little or no doubt that the foregoing acts constitute crimes defined under the Revised Penal Code and Other Special Penal Laws and enumerated in Section 3 of HSA 2003 as comprising terrorism, particularly the crimes of rebellion, murder, kidnapping, abduction, arson and serious illegal detention.”
The decision stated: “None of the evidence presented by the petitioner gives any impression that these incidents fall within the category of acts officially sanctioned by the respondent organizations.”
The decision also stated:
“After consideration, this Court finds none of the (9) incidents of atrocities which are allegedly committed by the NPA against civilians can be said as having caused ‘widespread and extraordinary fear and panic’ among the Philippine populace.
“While the Court does not dismiss or minimize the loss of lives and property, these incidents can only be characterized as ‘pocket and sporadic occurrences’ in limited and scattered areas of the country, particularly in specific areas in Mindanao, i.e., Surigao del Sur, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and Agusan del Sur.
“Any fear and panic these incidents may have caused are confined to the communities where they have occurred. In other words, these incidents have not reached ‘widespread’ or ‘extraordinary’ proportions contemplated under Section 3 and 17 of HSA 2007.”
While the CPP and NPA have chosen guerilla warfare as one of its strategies, the decision stated that HSA 2007 “effectively precludes ‘guerrilla warfare’ or small-time warfare.”
“Indeed, the nine incidents of atrocities fall within the category of small-time, ‘hit-and-run,’ sporadic acts of violence with no specified victims or targets,” it said.
Judge Malagar’s decision stated that no evidence was showed that the nine incidents were committed to make unlawful demands from the government including those presented during peace negotiations.
“’Sowing fear’ among members of a community, without more, cannot be construed as a ‘demand,’” the judge said as she refuted the allegations made by the DOJ in its petition.
“No evidence has been submitted establishing that any of the nine (9) incidents of atrocities committed by the CPP-NPA against civilians has been preceded or followed by any demand for peace negotiation with the government,” she said.
She pointed out that the cases involving the nine incidents are pending in various courts and that “the perpetrators of the nine (9) incidents of atrocities are charged only with the commission of regular crime(s).”
She noted: “That the perpetrators are charged only as ordinary individual(s), and not as rebels or as member(s) of the CPP-NPA, much less, as terrorists, is significant as it erases from the State’s indictment any allegation that could have classified these acts as “official acts” of members of the CPP-NPA.”
“In the absence of such qualification, these acts can only be attributed to regular or ordinary persons committing regular criminal acts in their personal, private capacity. It may not be remiss to emphasize the distinction between acts committed in the course of the ‘armed struggle’ to achieve the political purpose of the respondent organizations and the random acts of violence committed by individual-members without the sanction of the organization of which they are members,” she added.
