Rep Castro, Satur found guilty in child abuse case

‘Wrongful conviction’ by Davao court, say militants

BY ASHZEL HACHERO and WENDELL VIGILIA

THE Tagum City Regional Trial Court has found Rep. France Castro of the party-list group ACT Teachers, former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo, and 11 others guilty of endangering minors in 2018 and meted them prison terms.

Castro and Ocampo, in a joint statement, said the court decision is “unacceptable and unjust.”

“This wrongful conviction speaks of the continuing persecution of those who are helping and advocating for the rights of Lumad children and the persistent attacks on Lumad schools and communities,” they said.

“We persist in our call that those who ordered and orchestrated the attacks against the Lumad schools, specifically former President Rodrigo Duterte and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and endangered the lives of indigenous children must be brought to justice,” they also said.

The NTF-ELCAC welcomed the decision.

“Justice has been served,” said retired Army general Ernesto, executive director of the NTF-ELCAC which is supervising the campaign against the decades-old communist insurgency.

The charges against Castro, Ocampo and the other respondents accused them of holding 14 minor students during their solidarity mission in Talaingod, Davao del Norte in November 2018.

The complaint was filed the local police and local social welfare development office.

The Tagum RTC, in a 25-page decision dated July 3, said Castro, Ocampo, and the 11 others violated Section 10 (a) of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.

The RTC was acting on the complaint filed the local police and local social welfare development office.

The court sentenced the 13 to imprisonment ranging from four to six years, and ordered them to pay, jointly and severally, P20,000 as civil indemnity and moral damages to each of the 14 minors, with an interest rate of 6 percent per annum until fully complied.

“After painstakingly weighing the testimonies as well as the evidence adduced by both parties, this Court finds the evidence of the prosecution sufficient to warrant the