A LOCAL court in Nueva Ecija has issued warrants for the arrest of leftist leaders Liza Maza, Rafael Mariano, Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño for murder charges lodged against them in 2006.
Maza, a former party-list lawmaker representing Gabriela, is the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) convenor and secretary.
Mariano is a former Agrarian Reform secretary and former Anakpawis party-list representative while Ocampo and Casiño are former party-list congressmen representing Bayan Muna.
Malacañang on Friday, July 27, distanced itself from the court decision while the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives held a press conference to condemn the issuance of the warrants against the four leftist leaders.
Judge Evelyn Tura of Palayan City Regional Trial Court Branch 40 in Nueva Ecija issued the arrest warrants against the four former lawmakers over their alleged involvement in the abduction-slay of Danilo Felipe in 2001, Jimmy Peralta in 2003, and Carlito Bayudang in 2004.
Felipe, Peralta and Bayudang were alleged supporters of rival party-list Akbayan.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the executive department acknowledges the separation of powers in government, thus would courts to exercise their independence.
"The matter is still with the Regional Trial Court," Roque said.
"The Palace will continue to respect the independence of our courts. We should therefore let the legal process run its course," he added.
On February 15, 2017, the Supreme Court ordered Turla to continue tackling the murder charges against the four accused, instead of remanding the cases to the office of the Provincial Prosecutor for reinvestigation.
In a press conference, Makabayan lawmakers described the charges as "rehashed" and "trumped up."
In a statement, they said the murder case filed against the four leftist leaders is the same case that led to the arrest of former Anakpawis party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran.
Maza, Mariano, Ocampo, and Casiño, along with former Bayan Muna Representative Joel Virador, were put under protective custody of the House of Representatives under then Speaker Jose de Venecia.
They became known as the "Batasan Five" as they took refuge at the House for over two months.
While a similar case against them was dismissed in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, this case reached the Supreme Court after the Palayan RTC returned the case to the fiscal for reinvestigation.
In 2017, the Supreme Court returned and ordered the Palayan RTC to decide on the case without returning it to the fiscal for reinvestigation.
"Darker times are indeed ahead as attacks against the opposition are intensifying from legal offensives to vilification to outright extra-judicial killings," the Makabayan said.
"These attacks are highly condemnable and we will continue to oppose the anti-people and anti-poor policies of the Duterte administration," they added.
The Makabayan bloc is composed of Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, ACT Teachers partylist Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Gabriela Women's Party Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas, Anakpawis partylist Rep. Ariel Casilao and Kabataan partylist Rep. Sarah Elago. (VoxPop Philippines)
