The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Saturniño Ocampo, Mr. Teodoro Casiño, Ms. Liza Maza and Mr. Rafael Mariano (the so-called Batasan Four), incumbent members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines at the time the communication was submitted, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/189/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 188th session (April 2011),

Taking into account the letters from the Speaker of the House of Representatives of 8 August 2011 as well as of the information note provided by the Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Special Affairs Bureau of the House, dated 11 October 2011,

Recalling that the persons concerned were, along with others, prosecuted on a charge of rebellion, which in June 2007 was dismissed by the Supreme Court of the Philippines as unfounded and politically motivated; that soon after the dismissal of this case, new charges were laid against them and have been pending ever since, namely:

• The Batasan Four were charged with murder and kidnapping in 2007; one of the charges was dismissed on account of inadmissible evidence (extrajudicially obtained confessions) being used while the prosecutor ordered a further preliminary investigation regarding the other charge although it is based on the same inadmissible evidence; the Batasan Four challenged that order before the Supreme Court for grave abuse of discretion, and it has been pending there since March 2009;

• A new murder case was brought against Mr. Ocampo in 2007 and his petition to have the case dismissed for lack of evidence is still pending before the Supreme Court (Leyte murder case);

• A charge of obstructing justice was brought against Mr. Casiño in May 2007 on the ground that he prevented the arrest of a person; Mr. Casiño affirms that he prevented the arrest of a person without an arrest warrant by plain-clothes armed police; the case is still awaiting resolution by the prosecutor;

• A multiple murder charge, concerning cases already dealt with in the context of the rebellion case, was brought against Mr. Ocampo in March 2008 and the proceedings have been suspended pending the decision of the Supreme Court in the Leyte murder case;

• The only case which seems to be proceeding concerns a charge of abduction filed against Mr. Ocampo in March 2008 as the trial was set to start in June 2011 with the taking of petitioner’s testimony in court; the update on the cases provided by the House of Representatives does not mention whether or not the case is now indeed proceeding,

1. Thanks the Speaker of the House of Representatives for his letter and the Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Special Affairs Bureau for the information provided;

2. Notes with regret that the cases in question have remained at a standstill; recalls that the right to be tried without undue delay is an element of the right to fair trial enshrined in the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, to which the Philippines is a party and that it is designed to avoid keeping people in a state of uncertainty about their fate for too long; affirms that this is particularly important in the case of members of parliament for whom a prolonged state of uncertainty can but impair their ability freely to exercise their parliamentary mandate;

3. Remains particularly concerned at the absence of any development in the obstruction of justice case against Representative Casiño which has now been pending for more than four years without the prosecution being able to resolve it; that, moreover, the kidnapping with murder case has not been dismissed although it is reportedly based on evidence declared inadmissible in another case;

4. Reiterates its wish to receiveofficial information in this regard, as it is difficult to understand how the prosecution is unable to resolve a case such as the one against Rep. Casiño after more than four years, and how the courts can come to different conclusions regarding the inadmissibility as evidence of extrajudicial confessions;

5. Highly values the stated commitment of President Aquino’s administration to the rule of law and due process, and sincerely hopes that it will come into play also in the cases at hand; wishes in this respect once again to recall the Supreme Court’s statement in its ruling in the rebellion case emphasizing "the importance of maintaining the integrity of criminal prosecution in general and preliminary investigations in particular" and hence to prevent the justice system from being used for political ends;

6. Requests the Secretary General to forward this resolution to the parliamentary authorities as well as to the Secretary of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission;

7. Requests the Committeeto continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 126th IPU Assembly (March/April 2012).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 125th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 718 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

---

HOME PAGEHUMAN RIGHTSMAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITYIPU STRUCTURE AND DOCUMENTS