December 12, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — A group of indigenous people (IP) filed on Tuesday afternoon a complaint against ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro before the committee on ethics of the House of Representatives for allegedly endangering 14 indigenous lumad children in 2018.
The complainants were led by Datu Allan Causing Admo from the IP’s mandatory representative, who belongs to the Talaingod tribe in Davao del Norte.
Lawyer Israelito Torreon, legal counsel of the complainant, said the objective of the complaint is to get justice for the IPs that were violated by Castro.
In a statement, Castro decried the complaint as another baseless harassment suit akin to the trumped-up charges filed against the respondents, also known as the “Talaingod 13.”
“For the record, the case against me, Ka Satur Ocampo and our lumad co-accused is still under appeal (at the Court of Appeals). There is no final verdict yet,” she said.
Castro vowed to fight the “fabricated charges” that intimidate and harass oppressed communities and they will “continue to fight for justice and accountability.”
Progressive group Karapatan hit yesterday the expulsion moves against Castro, believing that they come from Vice President Sara Duterte’s camp.
Karapatan views the ethics case against Castro as a desperate attempt by the Dutertes to deflect public attention from the Vice President’s misappropriation of her confidential funds.
The Tagum City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 2 had found Castro, former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo and 11 others of endangering indigenous lumad children in 2018.
They were found guilty of violating Section 10(a) of the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act when they supposedly rescued 14 lumad students from paramilitary forces in 2018.
The court sentenced Castro and the others to six years in prison and imposed a P20,000 fine in moral and civil damages for each of the 14 victims.
Citing the House of Representatives’ rules, Zarate explained that the ethics committee is “even mandated not to act on it because of the pending appeal of the questioned case before a higher court.”
Rule 1 Section 2 of the rules of procedure of the ethics committee states: “If the subject matter of the complaint against a member of the House is pending in a judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative body, the committee shall defer action on said complaint until final judgment has been rendered by such body.”
Former Bayan Muna representative Carlos Zarate denounced yesterday the ethics complaint as “a malevolent and clear act of political retaliation,” as he pointed out “fundamental flaws” in the complaint’s filing.
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