DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 December) – Human rights advocates are calling for the “immediate reversal” of the Court of Appeals’ decision affirming the conviction of 13 human rights defenders, collectively known as the “Talaingod 13,” for child abuse stemming from complaints filed following a fact-finding mission in Davao del Norte in 2018.
In a statement sent to MindaNews on Tuesday, Jean Lindo, co-chair of the “Panalipdan! Mindanao,” described the CA’s ruling as “totally unfair,” maintaining that the children were not kidnapped or trafficked.
“If the Supreme Court will not reverse that decision, you can tell that the court is the least likely place you will find justice,” she said.
Among those convicted were former ACT Teachers Party-list Representative France Castro, former Bayan Muna president Saturnino Ocampo, and co-accused Ma. Eugenia Victoria Nolasco, Jesus Madamo, Meriro Poquita, Maricel Andagkit, Marcial Rendon, Marianie Aga, Jenevive Paraba, Nerhaya Talledo, Ma. Concepcion Ibarra, Nerfa Awing, and Wingwing Daunsay.
They were among the HR defenders who launched a National Solidarity and Fact-Finding Mission on November 28, 2018, in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
Lindo said “Talaingod 13” were only helping the vulnerable Lumad communities, which were seeking education for their children.
In July 2024, the Regional Trial Court-Branch 2 of Tagum City convicted the group for allegedly exploiting the 14 Lumad students of the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Ingkanogan Community Learning Center, Inc. in Talaingod.
The trial court found them guilty of violating Section 10(a), Article VI of Republic Act 7610, also known as “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act,” which penalizes any person “who shall commit any other acts of child abuse, cruelty or exploitation or to be responsible for other conditions prejudicial to the child’s development.”
They were sentenced to suffer a jail term of four years, nine months, and 11 days as a minimum to six years, eight months, and one day as maximum.
“If you have government entities convinced that asserting the right to development is terroristic and criminal, it is no wonder that we are always left behind,” she said.
She said some government entities would “rather support corruption in its grand scheme than uphold the Indigenous People’s right to development.”
In a statement on Sunday, Grecian Asoy, deputy secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao Region (Karapatan-SMR), said the CA’s ruling undermined public trust in the justice system and exposed the “sorry state of the Philippine justice system and exhibits repression rather than administering justice.”
She called for the immediate reversal of the conviction, which she said was based on deliberately “manufactured charges, coerced and false testimonies, and the worsening climate of relentless red-tagging.”
“The legal sector is complicit in assassinating our democracy if we allow our justice system to stand against the very people they vowed to serve. It must serve them and not cow or silence them. We will never stand true to our name if we concede to terrorizing dissent while the truth is treated as a crime,” Asoy added.
Asoy said “unrelenting criminalization of democratic participation and community service threatens civil liberties and endangers anyone who speaks out for grave rights abuses and social justice.”
She said the conviction of the ‘Talaingod 13’ shows how the legal system was weaponized to “persecute human rights advocates who genuinely serve the disenfranchised communities and who have undauntedly challenged state-instigated terrorism, militarization, and commercializing politics.”
She said it was part of a broader campaign to “terrorize dissent and silence critics of anti-people policies and other draconian measures subjecting activists and rights defenders to routine surveillance, harassment, arbitrary arrest and trumped-up charges.”
“This ruling affirms a dangerous pattern where dissent is equated with terrorism, advocacy is treated as criminal conspiracy, and democratic spaces are systematically narrowed to fear and punishment,” she added. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
