That proscription case

We welcome the order of Manila RTC Presiding Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar declaring former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Rafael Baylosis, UN Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, and Atty. Jose Melencio Molintas as “non-parties” to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) petition seeking to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) as terrorist groups.

But that does not address the grave injustice done to almost 600 individuals included in the Department of Justice (DOJ) proscription case. The DOJ should withdraw the petition and the court throw it out wholesale.

It disrespects our legal system by saddling the courts with a clear fishing expedition meant to harass critics of the government. It is a perfect example of the Duterte regime’s irresponsible, vindictive and punitive use of raw data and unverified information for dubious ends.

No less than Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has admitted before legislators that the DOJ failed to vet the names furnished by government intelligence agencies.

The list is infirm, including the dead and the disappeared, and contains double entries.

The proscription case fits with the pattern of a bloodthirsty government that has killed tens of thousands of poor drug suspects with no iota of due process and a President with a penchant for trotting out lies to justify authoritarian moves.

We demand an end to political persecution that disrupt lives and reputations to defend a regime whose abuses increasingly isolate it from the same people it purports to serve.--Movement Against Tyranny