National Democratic Front (NDF) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison and 11 other persons including Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago and former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares and former Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin have been cleared of kidnapping over allegations of forcibly making a female youth join a leftist group.
“In this joint complaint, the undersigned investigating prosecutors find no sufficient ground to continue with the investigation for failure of the complainants to show in their evidence the presence of the elements of the crimes by which they are charging the respondents,” read the 12-page resolution dated Oct. 15 that was issued by the Department of Justice’s National Prosecution Service (DOJ-NPS).
The resolution was signed by Assistant State Prosecutor Noel Antay Jr. with the approving signatures of Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento and Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon.
The resolution was issued following the conduct of a preliminary investigation over the joint complaint filed by private complainant Relissa Lucena and the Philippine National Police (PNP), particularly, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit-Major Crimes Investigation Unit (CIDG-MCIU).
In the complaint, 12 respondents have been accused of kidnapping and failure to return a minor under Article 270 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) and in violation of Section 4(c) 24(ii) and (iii) of Republic Act 9851, also known as the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
Aside from Sison, Elago, Colmenares and Villarin, the other persons named as respondents are Anakbayan national president Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan secretary general Einstein Recedes, Anakbayan spokesman Alex Danday, Anakbayan liaison officer Al Omaga, Bianca Marie Gacos, Chary Del Rosario, Rinoa Duero, and Jay Roven Balais.
The case stemmed from allegations made by Relissa that her daughter Alicia left home in 2019 following her recruitment by the Anakbayan in 2018 when she was still a student of the Far Eastern University (FEU).
Police Senior Master Sergeant Ariosto Bayron Rana of the CIDG-MCIU also submitted to the DOJ the testimonies of two rebel returnees--Rebecca Pecayo and Edison Villanueva--who both stated they were still minors when they were recruited by groups linked with communist rebels, particularly, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and the Gabriela Youth, respectively.
“While it may be true that Alicia was still a minor when she left her home and joined ANAKBAYAN on February 3, 2019, the complainants failed to show that the respondents were entrusted with the custody of Alicia and that they deliberately failed to restore/return her to her home,” read the DOJ-NPS resolution.
“On the contrary, the affidavit of private complainant and the handwritten letter of Alicia to her parents show that even when Alicia joined the organization ANAKBAYAN, there were instances that she returned home,” it added.
The DOJ-NPS noted that Alicia’s letter “merely contains, among others, the predicaments, disappointments and bad experiences of Alicia with her parents from a young age, and her plan to leave them after she entered college.”
“Moreover, in the handwritten letter of Alicia to her parents, there was neither any mention of her being recruited nor her involvement with ANAKBAYAN,” it said.
“There is also nothing in the said letter that mentions the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines, New Peoples Army, National Democratic Front) or anything that would indicate Alicia’s intention to join the said group,” it added.
Also, the DOJ-NPS pointed out “the complainants nevertheless failed to prove that ANAKBAYAN is an armed force or that the members thereof used children to participate in hostilities.”
“As it appears in the evidence presented, ANAKBAYAN is just a comprehensive national mass organization of the Filipino youth that is advocating for jobs, land reform, education, rights and justice,” it stated.
“There is also no evidence presented showing that ANAKBAYAN is the recruiting arm of or somehow connected to the CPP-NPA-NDF,” it added.
Also, the DOJ-NPS pointed out that the testimonies of Pecayo and Villanueva are “limited only to the recruitment activities of LFS, Kabataang Makabayan and Gabriela Youth with whom they are members.”