10 execs indicted for perjury
MANILA — The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has filed perjury charges against 10 other officials of organizations with long-standing links to the Communist Party of the Philippines- New People’s
Army (CPP-NPA).
In a two-page resolution dated February 24, City Prosecutor Vimar Marcellano found “probable cause to indict” Cristina Palabay, Roneo Clamor, Gabriela Krista Dalena, Edita Burgos, Jose Mari Callueng, Wilfredo Ruazol, Elisa Tita Lubi, Emma Cupin, Gertrudes Ranjo Libang and Joan May Salvador.
The respondents named in the complaint filed by National Security Adviser Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. are officials of Gabriela, Karapatan and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) who allegedly lied under oath in the petition for writ of amparo and habeas corpus filed against the government, before the Court of Appeals (CA).
The petition for writ of amparo was subsequently dismissed by the appellate court in June last year.
“The issues upon which the charges are built pertain to factual matters that cannot be threshed out conclusively during the preliminary stage of the case. Precisely, there is a trial for the presentation of prosecution’s evidence in support of the charge.” Marcellano said in his order.
A bail of PHP18,000 for each of the respondents was recommended for their temporary liberty.
Meanwhile, the complaint filed against another respondent Reylan P. Vergara was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The resolution granted a motion for reconsideration filed by Esperon of another prosecutor’s ruling late last year to charge only one individual, Elenita Belardo, national coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP).
During her arraignment last month, Belardo pleaded not guilty to the charge before Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 37 Judge Aimee Marie Alcera.
In an information dated Nov. 8, 2019, Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Nilo Peñaflor ordered the filing of the charges against Belardo.
Peñaflor said Belardo “knowingly made untruthful statements under oath” when she said the RMP is a “duly registered non-stock, nonprofit organization.”