Satur, Castro convicted for endangering Lumad children

MANILA, Philippines — Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo and 11 others are facing six years in prison after a Davao court found them guilty of endangering indigenous Lumad children in 2018.

Acting Presiding Judge Jimmy Bustillo Boco of the Tagum City Regional Trial Court Branch 2 found them guilty of violating Section 10(a) of the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act in 2018 when they supposedly rescued 14 Lumad students from paramilitary forces.

“The acts of the accused not only exposed the children to harm or risk but also placed them to the potential endangerment of their safety and well-being. Due to the acts of the accused, the children experienced unnecessary risks and suffered from unsecured conditions,” the court said in a 25-page decision dated July 3.

The court sentenced them to six years in prison and imposed P20,000 in moral and civil damages for each of the 14 victims.

In November 2018, police charged Castro and the others with kidnapping, human trafficking and child abuse for transporting 14 Lumad children from their school in Talaingod, Davao del Norte amid the reported militarization of the school and aerial bombings.

Castro had said that prosecutors dropped the kidnapping and human trafficking charges and proceeded with the child abuse charge.

The defendants claimed that a national solidarity mission was being conducted to assist Lumad schools and teachers after paramilitary group Alamara padlocked the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Ingkanogan Community Learning Center Inc.

The court noted that students walked for three hours on a remote, dark and unsecured road, wherein they could have died in an accident or shot during an encounter between the military and the New People’s Army.

The court also found conspiracy among the defendants as the solidarity mission had been planned in advance.

“The justification for the supposed presence of conspiracy has no basis. Our mere presence on the highway where we met the teachers and the children is insufficient to establish conspiracy,” Castro and Ocampo said yesterday in a statement.

Aside from Castro