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MANILA, Philippines – Spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, who are members of the communist-side peace negotiation panel, were deprived of a fair trial after witnesses who may have presented evidence in their favor were harassed, according to their lawyers.
In a statement Friday after the couple was found guilty of kidnapping and placing three military officers and a member of a narcotics squad under serious illegal detention, attorney Rachel Pastores said the circumstances leading to the enactment of the case prevented for the Tiamzons to fight back. correctly.
Pastores, managing attorney of the Public Interest Law Center (PILC), is Benito Tiamzon’s attorney.
“Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, like other peace consultants, were accused of false cases, but could not defend themselves effectively in court because they and their witnesses are constantly subjected to threats to their lives, harassment and surveillance,” he said. .
“They could easily have presented evidence in their defense and disputed the clear lies of the only prosecution witness, a high-ranking member of the armed forces,” he added.
Pastors and PILC further explained that the Tiamzons held a rally on the dangers that witnesses face, as did what happened to fellow peace consultants Randall Echanis and Randy Malayao.
Malayao was killed while sleeping inside a bus at a pit stop in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, in January 2019, while Echanis was found stabbed to death in his rented home in Novaliches, Quezon City, in August 2020 alone.
Atty. Meanwhile, Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) claimed that the cases were simply resurrected as another form of hardline attack against leftists in the country.
Olalia, whose NUPL represents Wilma Tiamzon, said the proper accusation should have been rebellion and not kidnapping because the communist armed struggle is seen as waging a civil war against the current government, if they actually committed the act.
“The politically motivated persecution and hard-line attack have risen from nowhere. Doubtful identification after 30 years, ”said Olalia.
“Rebellion of proper charge dapat instead of kidnapping [be]cause of [the] doctrine of the political crime of absorption, assuming [the] facts as true but not admitted ”, he added.
The NUPL president also emphasized that the Tiamzons are still covered by the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig), which provides progressive leaders with some legal immunity as the peace process advances.
However, the past administration maintained that Jasig does not cover the Tiamzon couple.
On Friday, the Quezon City Regional Court of First Instance found the couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon guilty of the cases filed in 2003, for an incident in 1988.
In his 18-page decision, the presiding judge of Section 216 of the Quezon City RTC, Alfonso C. Ruiz II, sentenced the two to life imprisonment or up to 40 years in prison.
Lieutenant Abraham Claro Casis was also ordered to pay the complainant 75,000 pesos in moral damages; P75,000 as civil compensation; and P75,000 as exemplary damages. [ac]
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