“The Ombudsman may have dismissed the cases, but it cannot dismiss the truth.”

By Shan Kenshin Q. Ecaldre
Bulatlat.com

LAGUNA – The Office of the Ombudsman has once again failed the people.

This was the statement of human rights groups in Southern Tagalog after the Ombudsman dismissed all criminal, civil, and administrative complaints filed against members of the 59th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army. They were accused of red-tagging, coercion, and falsifying charges against activists and civilians.

“This is not just a dismissal, it is a green light for abuse,” said Charm Maranan, spokesperson of Defend Southern Tagalog. “Dismissals like this embolden state forces to weaponize the law without fear of consequences.”

Red-tagging with impunity

Among the complainants were Hailey Pecayo and Jpeg Garcia, both organizers from Southern Tagalog. In 2022, the 59th IB accused them of terrorism, attempted murder, and illegal possession of firearms, charges later junked by the Office of the City Prosecutor of Santa Rosa for lack of probable cause.

But the accusations, they said, were never meant to prosper in court. They were meant to silence.

Maranan said, “By citing ‘lack of substantial evidence’ and presuming regularity in the soldiers’ actions, the Ombudsman has effectively said: If a soldier believes what he says, even if it’s false, he cannot be held accountable.”

In its resolution, the Ombudsman even acknowledged that the affidavits submitted by the military were based on “belief or conviction,” yet chose to disregard their implications. “What message does this send to communities? That if state agents sincerely lie, they’re off the hook?” Maranan asked.

A pattern of harassment

This is not the first time that the 59th IB was accused of abuses.

According to Karapatan Southern Tagalog, the battalion has been implicated in at least 34 cases of red-tagging, harassment, and rights violations since 2020. These include operations in Quezon and Batangas provinces that resulted in threats, surveillance, and arrests of community organizers and peasant leaders.

A disturbing example was the military’s intrusion into the wake of 9-year-old Kyllene Casao in Batangas in 2022. Witnesses reported that soldiers harassed grieving family members and forced the burial to be held earlier than planned.

Casao was killed during an alleged military operation. Her death sparked outcry across human rights circles, with groups blaming the 59th IB for recklessness and impunity.

However, the Ombudsman ruled that the soldiers were simply “ensuring peace and order” and did not see the act as intimidation.

“This is not a case of isolated misconduct,” Maranan said. “It mirrors a deliberate and coordinated pattern of red-tagging, harassment, surveillance, and legal offensives that all serve one goal: to silence dissent.”

Who enables the abusers?

Defend Southern Tagalog also accused high-ranking officials of the Office of the Ombudsman of enabling impunity. Among them were retired Ombudsman Samuel Martires, under whose term various human rights complaints were dismissed or downplayed, acting Ombudsman Justice Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo, Prosecution Officer Myra P. Dela Rama-Gargaceran, and Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Law Enforcement Jose M. Balmeo Jr.

“These soldiers walk free, but so do those who allow them to,” Maranan said. “The Ombudsman may have dismissed the cases, but it cannot dismiss the truth.”

From courts to streets: People’s resistance rises

On July 19, the last day of LABAN: SONA People’s Caravan of Southern Tagalog, rights defenders marched to the Office of the Ombudsman to denounce the decision.

“This fight is not only for those wrongly accused of terrorism,” Garcia said. “It is for the communities harassed, the farmers dispossessed, and the children like Kyllene whose lives are cut short by military violence.”

Garcia added, “The Ombudsman may repeatedly shut the doors of justice in our faces. But we will fight on, because the people’s struggle does not end in courtrooms. It lives on in the streets, in the barricades, and in every community that refuses to bow down to fear.” (AMU, DAA)