Press Statement on the DOJ proceedings against Vicente Ladlad & leftist activists

FATALLY DEFECTIVE, THUS NULL AND VOID

23 March 2006

Lawyers of Vicente Ladlad, one of 51 activists facing rebellion charges together with 6 party-list representatives, today presented his counter-affidavit strongly rapping the "fatal defects" of the proceedings being conducted by the justice department that in effect render these "null and void."

"In view of this, I move for the dismissal of the charges against me," Ladlad said, as he scored the "miserable failure" of the investigating panel of prosecutors led by senior state prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco to comply with basic legal procedures and requirements.

He said the charges against him were trumped up even as he decried the
presentation of PNP masked witness Jaime Beltran Fuentes who claimed he wasLadlad's chief security as a "charade and media event poorly staged" by thePNP with the help of the DOJ.*

"The investigating panel of prosecutors should have required the said masked 'witness' to remove his mask so that they could properly identify him and he could properly subscribe to his affidavit before them . . . Considering the way the panel acted, the said witness could have been any one else – even their boss, the Secretary of Justice himself! – but not one Jaime Beltran Fuentes, assuming such a person in fact exists," noted Ladlad.

In an earlier statement, the veteran martial law activist asserted that he
did not have any bodyguard or security detail. He said many people could
attest to this fact. "In this regard, I reserve the filing of theappropriate charges against all those responsible for the perjurious and
fabricated charges against me."

Ladlad's counter-affidavit includes an omnibus motion to –

1.      Dismiss the case against him for failure to submit the affidavit of the complainant, lack of admissible evidence and failure to comply with the rules on preliminary investigation;

2.      Exclude and/or strike-out the affidavit of witness Jaime Beltran Fuentes for failure to disclose his true identity to the respondents;

3.      Exclude and/or strike out the affidavits of all other witnesses who
did not appear before the investigating panel of prosecutors to subscribe
and swear to their affidavits; and

4.      Exclude and/or strike out all so-called evidence which are incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, hearsay, etc.

His counter-affidavit also reserves the right to file a supplemental counter-affidavit "upon compliance with the rules on preliminary investigation by the complainant (PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management) and the investigating panel of prosecutors."

Ladlad did not show up at the continuation of the preliminary investigation at the justice department because of what he described as the "very imminent threat that I will be illegally arrested and subjected to physical harm bythe complainant or other elements of the PNP and AFP."

In June 1999, Ladlad was abducted by agents of the Intelligence Service of the AFP. He was ordered released by the court after ten days in prison when
human rights lawyers bared that the case filed against him had in fact been dismissed in 1991. The current rash of killings of leftist activists which has reached over a hundred adds to his worries.

Ladlad, however, said he would be "more than willing" to present himself before the investigating panel of prosecutors "if I were given the firm and written assurance by the Director General of the PNP and the Chief of Staff of the AFP that I will not be arrested at any time and under any circumstances."  #

***Reference: Fides Lim **** 0918-919-3709*