of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

Nonetheless, in a resolution dated July 28, the newly-appointed
state prosecutor Antonio Tagami only affirmed the resolution to
charge Buisan on 23 December 2005 by Regional Trial Court
Branch 36, which was in connection with the habeas corpus
petition that had been earlier dismissed. However, considering
that that decision had already been overtaken by the court’s
recent order for reinvestigation of the charges against the victim,
a full reinvestigation should have been conducted. Instead,
Tagami merely quoted the court’s resolution and effectively
recommended the filing of robbery with homicide charges against
the victim without any reconsideration of the extenuating facts.
In particular, the victim’s allegations that he was brutally
tortured while in police custody following his arrest were not given
consideration.
109
VICTIMS:
1. Eleuterio J. Revollido
2. Mariano Sepnio (killed)
INCIDENTS:
Intimidation; killing
ALLEGED PERPETRATORS:
Military or police intelligence
personnel
DATE: Since end 2005
AHRC UA-252-2006
114
Rev. Fr. Terry Revollido & others:
Men coming in boots and white vans
As chairperson of the human rights group Bayan in
Pangasinan province of Luzon, Rev. Fr. Eleuterio “Terry” J.
Revollido has been subjected to monitoring and harassment by
military and police intelligence units.
Towards the end of 2005, Fr. Terry’s seminary janitor informed
him that he was visited three times by suspicious looking and
well-built persons who asked about the activities and personalities
of those coming and going at the seminary. Fr. Terry was not in
his house on their third visit, but his son recalled that the men
entered inside the house by force. According to his son, they
were wearing “boots and riding in a white van”. Later the
seminary assisted the family to construct a steel fence at their
house for security.
At the beginning of 2006, one of Fr. Terry’s colleagues was
allegedly approached by a man who claimed that he was working
with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and that he
would give money for information about the activities of Fr. Terry.
Meanwhile, two members of the seminary have themselves
been killed in recent times. Seminary vice chairman Mariano
Sepnio was killed on 9 March 2006 by two armed men riding a
motorcycle among some who were seen buying cigarettes in a
nearby store but who did not remove their helmets. Some others
had spent some hours just standing close to the seminary for
successive nights. The general secretary, Jose Doton, was also
ambushed and killed on 16 May 2006 (see case above).
On another occasion a suspicious-looking man appeared at
the seminary and asked for help. Because it was vacation, only
a few people were in residence. The man went up to the second
floor of the main building and knocked on every door of the staff
houses, which was unusual for a man asking for money for the
“burial of his brother”. On the afternoon of the same day, while
waiting for a vehicle in front of the seminary one of the male
lecturers saw another man in a L300 Mitsubishi van keenly
viewing him from a distance. The vehicle reportedly carried a
police logo on the back.
article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1