A court in Plaridel, Bulacan takes after an earlier Supreme Court grant of protective writ to environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano
MANILA, Philippines – A court in Plaridel, Bulacan has dismissed the defamation charges against young environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano which were pursued by the Philippine Army as a counter-offensive against the two.
“The Motion to Quash Informations is hereby granted and Criminal Case No. 24-3457 against accused Jonila Castro and Criminal Case No. 24-3458 against accused Jhed Reiyana Tamano are hereby dismissed,” said the order dated June 4 by Plaridel Municipal Trial Court Judge Sheila Marie Geronimo-Orquillas.
Castro and Tamano were abducted on September 2, 2023 in Bataan where they were doing field work to oppose a reclamation project there. They were held captive at a place they now claim had the markings of the 70th Infantry Batallion (IB) of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army. On September 19 that year, the Army presented them as returning rebels in a press conference where they veered away from an agreed-upon statement and accused the military of abducting them.
Lieutenant Colonel Ronnel dela Cruz, the battalion commander of the 70th IB, filed the defamation complaint over those statements that he said embarrassed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Prosecutors pursued the charges in January 2024.
In a separate but related petition, the Supreme Court granted Castro and Tamano the writs of amparo and issued a temporary protection order that prohibited Dela Cruz from going within 1 kilometer of them. In that decision from October 2023, the Supreme Court en banc said: “Other circumstances already lead the Court to believe that the first element of enforced disappearance is present, in that petitioners was, indeed, forcibly taken on September 2, 2023.”
The Plaridel court followed the Supreme Court pronouncement and said “such matters were findings of fact made by both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals which are irrefutable and never denied by the prosecution.” The Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecution did not file an opposition to Castro and Tamano’s motion to quash.
“In this context, the statements and utterances made by the two accused in the press conference on September 19, 2023, subject matter of these cases, were not malicious such that the facts charged in the Information do not constitute an offense, despite this Court’s admission of the Amended Information in these cases,” said the Plaridel court.
In Dela Cruz’s version, Castro and Tamano surrendered to them as rebels on September 12 and he facilitated the surrender, then arranged the September 19 press conference.
Castro and Tamano told Rappler they played into their captors’ game and led them to believe they were willing to execute a surrender affidavit — part of a pattern against activists — with the plan of telling the truth in a press conference where they hoped they could be rescued. The plan worked in their favor.
Castro and Tamano confirm Dela Cruz’s timeline that they met him on September 12, but they insist that from September 2 to 12, they were kept in an area with 70th IB markings.
Castro and Tamano’s cases and the broader pattern of red-tagging have led two United Nations special rapporteurs to recommend the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has yet to act on those recommendations.
– Rappler.com
