The Quezon City metropolitan trial court (MeTC) on Monday, Jan. 9, dismissed the perjury charges filed by then National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. against 10 human rights defenders.
Cleared in a decision issued by Judge Aimee Marie B. Alcera were Church leaders Sr. Elenita Belardo, Rev. Wilfredo Ruazol, and Dr. Edith Burgos; Karapatan’s Elisa Tita Lubi, Cristina Palabay, and Roneo Clamor and Gabriela’s Krista Dalena, Jose Mari Callueng, Gertrudes Ranjo Libang, and Joan May Salvador.
“In sum, for 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,” Judge Alcera ruled.
Esperon had accused the 10 human rights defenders of making false statements in their petition for the issuance of Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data that they filed before the Supreme Court (SC) in 2019.
The SC issued the writ and remanded the petition to the Court of Appeals (CA) for hearing and resolution. The CA, however, denied the petition. Esperon then filed the perjury charges.
Judge Alcera also said in her decision: “Conviction must rest no less than on hard evidence showing that the accused, with moral certainty, is guilty of the crime charged. Short of this constitutional mandate and statutory safeguard -- that a person is presumed innocent until the contrary is proved -- the Court is then left without discretion and is duty bound to render a judgment of acquittal.”
The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), the legal counsel of the 10 human rights defenders, lauded the decision issued by the MeTC.
“Our clients’ vindication is a fitting end to this trumped-up suit and the opening salvo in 2023 that signals the commitment of human rights defenders to continue fighting similar repressive measures through the weaponization of law,” said NUPL President Ephraim B. Cortez in a statement.
Cortez branded the case filed by Esperon as a “reprisal suit” and is “one of the many legal assaults where the State misused the law to discredit human rights advocacy, criminalize dissent, and stigmatize human rights defenders. But many of these attempts have been frustrated.”
TAGS: #Human rights defenders #QC MeTC #NUPL