QC court clears 10 human rights workers
THE Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) has acquitted ten human rights workers of perjury lodged against them by erstwhile National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
Acquitted by the QCMTC Branch 139 were Elenita Belardo, Elisa Lubi, Cristina Palabay, Roneo Clamor, Gabriela Krista Dalena, Edita Burgos, Jose Maria Callueng, Wilfredo Ruazol, Joan May Salvador, and Gertrudes Libang.
“In sum, for the failure of the prosecution to establish beyond reasonable doubt that all accused made a willful and deliberate assertion of a falsehood, all accused must perforce be acquitted,” the court ruled.
They were members of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), human rights group Karapatan, and militant women’s group Gabriela.
RMP is a missionary religious group that works with peasants, indigenous peoples (IPs), and other minority groups. It is a non-profit organization run primarily by nuns and other lay people involved in grassroots projects and programs with rural poor communities across the country.
In his complaint filed in 2019, Esperon claimed that the human rights workers lied in their petition for a “Writ of Amparo” before the Supreme Court.
According to Esperon, RMP claimed that it was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when its registration was actually “revoked” already.