INQUIRER.net Eleksyon 2007

PNP delays transfer of Ocampo to Leyte

Northern Luzon Bureau

Alcuin Papa Allison Lopez Vincent Cabreza

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon said Sunday night he was giving Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo time to seek a court order deferring his imminent transfer to a Leyte jail.

Calderon’s statement came after airport and police sources told the Philippine Daily Inquirer they had received information that Ocampo was to be flown to Tacloban City this morning so he could appear before a court in Hilongos, Leyte, where he is facing multiple murder charges.

“There is a request to give (him) enough time to make an appeal [to defer his transfer],” Calderon told the Inquirer.

Pressed on when the PNP would present the leftist lawmaker to the Leyte court which had ordered his arrest, Calderon said: “At the latest Tuesday morning. Maybe Monday afternoon.”

Ocampo has been charged with multiple murder in the sala of Hilongos Judge Ephrem Abando in connection with the discovery in Leyte of a supposed mass grave of military spies allegedly killed by communist rebels in the 1980s.

Ocampo, who is currently detained at the Manila Police Department, has denied involvement in the supposed killings, saying he was a political prisoner under martial law at the time.

The lawmaker told the Inquirer Sunday night he had not been told of any order transferring him to Leyte but that his lawyers planned to file petitions before the Hilongos court and the Supreme Court to defer his transfer.

The Supreme Court has set for March 23 a hearing on Ocampo’s earlier petition challenging the legality of his arrest.

Calderon said the PNP wanted to give “due process” to Ocampo, adding that a 36-hour deadline for his turnover to the Hilongos court was dependent on many things, including police preparations.

Ocampo said he and his lawyers would block efforts by the Department of Justice to transfer him to Leyte.

“I think there was a statement by Justice Secretary (Raul) Gonzalez advising me to get ready to go to Leyte. We already made the corresponding representation for them not to do that and to wait for the oral arguments on March 23,” he said in Filipino.

“If the Supreme Court decides to nullify the [arrest] warrant, I won’t be needed in Leyte anymore. What is their reason to transfer me now and bring me back on Friday? Just to satisfy the warrant?” he said.

No recycling of bones

Meanwhile, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said Sunday he could not have “recycled the bones” uncovered in a mass grave in Leyte for which Ocampo was arrested.

“Alam ninyo kung mayroon akong isang kinakatakutan? Ayokong gumalaw ng buto ng patay (Do you know what I fear? I don’t want to disturb skeletal remains),” he told reporters at a press conference Sunday at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City.

Esperon and Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. attended the parade held in honor of the graduating Philippine Military Academy “Maragtas” Class of 2007.

Before his detention on Friday, Ocampo accused Esperon of planting skeletons of supposed government spies in a Leyte mass grave that was uncovered on Aug. 26, 2006.

A Leyte court ordered the arrest of Ocampo, former spokesperson of the National Democratic Front (NDF), for allegedly ordering the purge of spies in the communist movement more than 20 years ago.

Ocampo, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison and NDF leader Luis Jalandoni have been indicted for the series of murders that occurred in the 1980s.

“In August, I heard about the graves five days after they were uncovered … The people who were there first were the families of the slain communists. The media were also at the site first before we arrived,” Esperon told reporters.

He said these details proved that the military could not have faked the grave site.

Instead of getting back at him, Esperon said Ocampo should instead “face the family of the people murdered by communists” in court.

Ocampo asked the high court to void the Leyte judge’s arrest order, saying it was part of a government conspiracy to harass the party-list group Bayan Muna, which is campaigning to win a third term in the House of Representatives.

After Ocampo’s escape

Ebdane, at the press conference, said the Leyte murders occurred after Ocampo escaped in 1985.

“[Ocampo] went to the National Press Club [accompanied by jail guards] to attend an event. Tumakas iyon (He escaped). The killings happened after he escaped,” he said.

“No less than two personalities who were involved in the killings pointed to him as the one who had ordered them to kill [the alleged spies in the communist organization],” said Ebdane, a former Philippine National Police chief.

“That [information] is what [Ocampo] should respond to. He shouldn’t just say he was detained [when the murders occurred in Leyte],” the defense secretary said.

Ebdane said the military would not object to leftist groups participating in elections as long as they were not supported by armed groups.

Esperon said the AFP was “not blind” to the charges that soldiers may have harmed or killed leftists and militants in the provinces.

He said the military had prosecuted 19 cases implicating soldiers in human rights violations.

No. 1 nominee

Manuel Loste, Bayan Muna vice chair, said Ocampo would remain Bayan Muna’s top nominee for the May 14 elections.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, who has visited Ocampo every day since his detention, said Ocampo’s arrest elicited sympathy not only for Ocampo but also for Bayan Muna.

Aside from getting ready for the campaign and the hearing on March 23, Casiño said Bayan Muna was preparing for the solidarity gathering for Ocampo on Monday at Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila.

The meeting, he said, would be attended by senatorial candidates and groups sympathetic to Ocampo’s plight.

Ocampo, 67, was found Sunday to be “borderline hypertensive” after undergoing a checkup by doctors from the militant human rights group Karapatan.

Dr. Sylvia Ciocon-de la Paz and Dr. Eleanor Jara said Ocampo’s blood pressure went up to 128/90 when they measured it at around noon.

De la Paz said the lawmaker must be under stress, and that the confined space where he is staying may also be a factor. The small room, she said, did not have windows to let sunlight in.

More space, sunlight

“He needs more space, sunlight and some exercise,” De la Paz said.

Jara said she visited Ocampo to return the support he had lent to the health sector. She said Ocampo, using his pork barrel, had prioritized the improvement of health services in public hospitals.

“Most of our indigent patients are now able to get the help they need. That is why we are asking all people, especially doctors, to show their concern for the good congressman,” she said.

Ocampo, however, played down the health findings and said he was actually surprised at the result.

“It’s high because for 40 years I’ve maintained a 110/90 or 120/80 blood pressure. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have enough sleep last night,” he said, adding that he and his wife, Carolina, waited up for their daughter Silahis and 6-year-old grandson Daniel, who arrived from Tokyo at midnight Saturday.

He said he played with his grandson who playfully said it was “better in Batasan because the place was larger.”

“The last time they were here I was in Batasan,” he said with a chuckle. He and four other party-list representatives, who were then facing rebellion and coup d’etat charges, stayed in the House of Representatives last year for weeks to avoid arrest.

Visits by Villanueva, Bello

Ocampo seemed well despite having only three hours of sleep and entertaining visitors, among them Bro. Eddie Villanueva, charismatic leader of the Jesus is Lord Movement, who prayed with him Saturday night and Akbayan party-list nominee Walden Bello, who came on a personal visit with his family Sunday morning.

Bello, who dropped by before leaving for Bangkok, said it was “important to show solidarity at this point. The legal charges are very flimsy and politically motivated.”

“We feel that this is an attack on the party-list system … The party-lists are the ones who are bringing issues to the forefront and whose representatives cannot be bribed. They are out to destroy the party-list system. Party-lists should unite as one to stop the miscarriage of justice,” Bello said.

He conceded that Ocampo was being treated fairly as a detainee at the MPD, but he added that it was “civil treatment but unjustified detention.” With a report from Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

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