NATIONWIDE ROUND-UP
Ocampo, 3 others declared ‘non-parties’ in case tagging CPP-NPA as terrorist group A REGIONAL court in Manila has declared former leftist Bayan Muna representative Saturnino “Satur” C. Ocampo, United Nations Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, and two others as “non-parties” in a petition filed by the Justice department tagging the communist groups in the country as terrorists. In a resolution dated July 27, the Manila Trial Court ruled that Mr. Ocampo and Ms. Corpuz, along with National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Rafael Baylosis and former Baguio politician Jose Melencio Molintas, should not be included in the case as the Department of Justice (DoJ) failed to clearly establish their ties with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA). — Justice chief wants DoJ hold order power
THE JUSTICE secretary is hoping that Congress will pass a law granting the Department of Justice (DoJ) the authority to stop people under preliminary investigation from leaving the country. DoJ Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra, in a text message to reporters on Wednesday, said while they welcome the Supreme Court’s recent approval of the Precautionary Hold Departure Order (PHDO), he hopes that “(C)ongress will enact a law that will directly empower the SOJ (secretary of justice) to restrict the right to travel of persons under preliminary investigation for very serious offenses, subject to constitutional limitations.”
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