2 SC justices convinced Satur murder raps part of political crime case

At least two Supreme Court justices are convinced that the multiple murder case against Bayan Muna party-list Representative Satur Ocampo over his alleged involvement in a bloody purge of communist rebels in Leyte constitutes a political crime and should be included in the rebellion raps earlier lodged against him. Radio station dzBB reported Friday that during the oral arguments on the petition filed by Ocampo, Associate Justices Adolf Ascuña and Antonio Carpio agreed that it is clear in the resolution issued by the prosecutor that the lawmaker was charged because of involvement in the alleged killing of former communist rebels. The report said because the case involves a political crime, the multiple murder charges can be included in the case filed before the Makati regional trial court. Ocampo was arrested last March 16 after filing his petition before the high court. The charges stemmed from the discovery of a mass grave site belonging to the CPP-NPA at Sitio Sapang Daco, Barangay Jaulisan, Inopacan, Leyte on August 26, 2006. On the other hand, Associate Justices Antonio Nachura, Presbitero Velasco and Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez agreed Ocampo’s camp should filed first a motion to quash or motion to defer warrant in the lower court before raising the issue to SC. They added Ocampo’s counsel could have filed a petition or appeal before the Department of Justice or Court of Appeals. Ocampo's camp and that of the Soliticor General were each given 20 minutes each to explain their side. SC Chief Justice Reynato Puno advised the two camps to focus their arguments on whether issuance of the temporary restraining order (TRO) is the proper remedy on the case and assuming it was correct, explain if due process was followed in the issuance of the arrest warrant. Lawyer Romeo Capulong, Ocampo’s counsel, maintained during the oral argument that the case was merely the product of “ideological hatred" and “political bias". DZBB reported that Capulong had a hard time answering Tinga's question of how a multiple murder charge can be considered a political crime. The lawyer admitted that he did not have to thoroughly study the case filed by the Leyte prosecutors office. The same report said Associate Justice Romeo Callejo found the case filed against Ocampo defective. He said the prosecutors should have filed separate information for each of the 15 murder cases. -GMANews.TV