Two Aetas off the hook on terror case
The two Aetas contested the allegations, saying that they were only trying to escape the crossfire
OLONGAPO CITY — The Olongapo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has dismissed the cases on Thursday against two Aetas who were the first to be accused of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
Branch 97 of the Olongapo RTC presiding Judge Melani Pay Tadili ordered the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Olongapo City to release Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos who were arrested in August last year.
In a nine-page decision, the Olongapo RTC Branch 97 disclosed that the government prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence to establish the guilt of accused Gurung and Ramos.
It granted the motion for demurrer to evidence filed by the PAO anchored on the failure of the prosecution to establish the identities of the accused as members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who figured in a gunfight with army soldiers in August last year.
“After a careful examination of the records, the Court holds that the prosecution failed to discharge the burden of proving the identities of the accused as the perpetrators of the crime of violation of Section 4 of RA No. 11479. Thus, the case for violation of this law against the accused must be dismissed,” the trial court ruled.
To recall, the Aetas were accused of being members of the NPA following their apprehension as they were going down the mountain in Sitio Lumibao, Barangay Buhawen, San Marcelino Zambales where an encounter between a group of NPA members and the military took place.
The prosecution claimed that Gurung and Ramos were positively identified as the perpetrators of the crime based on eyewitness account and noted that 2Lt. Fritz Entoma and 2Lt. Ian Dominic Oran saw the two during the gunfight and that they knew their names and facial features because of profiling of suspects.
The two Aetas contested the allegations, saying that they were only trying to escape the crossfire and stressed that they were tortured to admit that they were members of a communist terrorist group operating in Zambales.
The military denied that they tortured the two. The trial court, meantime, pointed out that based on its perusal of the sworn statements of the two army officers would show that no declaration was made that they saw the accused during the gunfight.
“If they did see the accused, they could have easily said so in their sworn statements as they did in their judicial affidavits. They could have provided the accused’ distinct features, such as skin color, height and hair type, and also their clothes’ color that would set them apart from the other armed persons. They could not just referred them as NPA members,” the court stressed.
Another “blatant inconsistency” noted by the court is the declaration of Entoma and Oran that they were able to recognized Gurung and Ramos because they were shown pictures of the accused in a briefing before the operation, but in their sworn statements, they made no mention of being shown pictures of the two.
If they did see the accused, they could have easily said so in their sworn statements as they did in their judicial affidavits. They could have provided the accused’ distinct features, such as skin color, height and hair type, and also their clothes’ color that would set them apart from the other armed persons. They could not just referred them as NPA members.
“The inconsistencies of the soldiers on the presence of the accused at the crime scene and the profiling of the accused, and the presence of the danger signals in their identification of the accused cast doubts on their testimonies that accused were the perpetrators of the crime of violation of Section 4 of RA No. 11479,” said the Olongapo RTC.