Case of activist in rally against Discayas junked
The Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office has junked the complaint filed against activist Jonila Castro for allegedly leading a protest against controversial contractors Pacifico “Curlee” and Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya at their office in Pasig City at the height of the congressional inquiry into anomalous flood control projects.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) called the dismissal of the complaint filed by a Pasig police official a vindication for Castro.
Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Rowena Simbahan recommended the dismissal of the complaint for insufficient evidence.
Simbahan said the complainant, Police Capt. Ralph Santos, failed to prove that Castro led the public assembly and that she was criminally liable for organizing the protest without securing a permit.
“Aside from the allegations of the complainant and their witnesses that they obtained the information from one of the rallyists as to the identity of the leader or organizer of the said assembly, no other evidence was submitted to prove that it was the respondent who is the leader or organizer of the said public assembly and is thus, criminally liable,” read her resolution dated Sept. 29.
Freedom of speech, assembly
Castro was part of the Sept. 4 rally outside the Pasig City compound of St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corp., one of at least nine construction firms owned by the Discaya couple. The protesters hurled mud and rocks at the property and spray-painted the words “magnanakaw” (thief) and “ikulong” (jail them) on its walls.
A week after the incident, Santos filed a complaint against Castro for violating Batas Pambansa (BP) No. 880, or the Public Assembly Act of 1985, arguing that the ralliers failed to present a permit during the protest.
Castro denied that she violated the law when she attended the rally, saying she was merely exercising her constitutional rights of freedom of speech and assembly.
The Discayas have come under the spotlight for their central role in the flood control project mess. After being identified as among the top 15 contractors who bagged P30 billion in flood control projects in the past three years, they have tagged several lawmakers as recipients of kickbacks from substandard or nonexistent projects.
‘Hearsay’ evidence
In her resolution, Simbahan said evidence of the organizer’s identity is indispensable, citing Section 13 of BP 880, which states that criminal liability lies with an organizer of a permit-less public assembly.
In this case, the prosecutor noted that the affidavit of the rallier who supposedly gave the information to the police that Castro was the leader was not submitted as evidence, making it “hearsay” which carried no weight.
“The first duty of the prosecution is not to prove the crime but to establish the identity of the perpetrator … Failure to present this proof warrants the dismissal of the instant complaint,” Simbahan said.
NUPL president Ephraim Cortez said the resolution of Castro’s case was a “clear proof that [she] was unjustly singled out by the PNP (Philippine National Police), and [the PNP] concocted an obviously baseless complaint against her.”
‘Agitators’
In September 2023, Castro and fellow activist Jhed Tamano disappeared while working with coastal communities opposed to reclamation activities in Manila Bay. Nearly two weeks later, they were presented in a press conference where they accused the military of abducting them, a charge denied by the authorities.
Meanwhile, in Busan, South Korea, President Marcos on Saturday said he was worried about troublemakers at the Trillion Peso March scheduled on Nov. 30, but not about the anticorruption rally itself.
“The only concern I have when we have demonstrations for whatever reason is that there are agitators who will go and try to cause trouble. What demonstrator goes to a demonstration with Molotov cocktails that are not intended to cause trouble or to hurt people?” Mr. Marcos told reporters.
On Sept. 21, tens of thousands of people took the streets in the largest protest yet against the corruption scandal that was marred by riots instigated by masked men, who set a container van on fire near Malacañang in Manila, killing one person and injuring several others.
The police in Metro Manila were monitoring possible recruitment of youths for the Nov. 30 rally through social media to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 21 violence. —WITH REPORTS FROM LUISA CABATO AND ZACARIAN SARAO
