Satur Ocampo seeks dismissal of kidnapping raps

Former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo has asked a prosecutor's office to dismiss the kidnapping charges against him over the transportation of minors from a lumad school in Davao del Norte last November.

In a counter-affidavit filed Tuesday, Ocampo denied "malicious" and "preposterous" police accusations of violation of the anti-trafficking law in relation to the anti-child abuse law, kidnapping, and failing to return a minor.

"I did not commit any crime. Hence, I humbly pray that the instant complaint be immediately dismissed for lack of probable cause and for being a clear case of political persecution," he said in the 15-page filing.

Ocampo, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, and 16 others are currently out on bail while being investigated for the criminal charges.

Ocampo narrated that he and his group were stopped at a police and Army checkpoint after they picked up students and teachers from a "forcibly closed" lumad school in Sitio Dulyan, Talaingod, Davao del Norte last November 28.

The former congressman, who was in the province as part of a solidarity mission that aims to assist a network of lumad schools, said his group got an "urgent call for help" from the teachers and students of the Dulyan school after military and paramilitary elements allegedly forced them out and shut it down.

Ocampo said he waited for his company to return as his van was not one of the four that the military allowed to proceed to Dulyan. He did not even see the students and teachers at the checkpoint as they had to leave immediately, he said.

"On our way back to Tagum City, two to three motorcycles followed the convoy. We were harassed and threatened," he said, claiming a big stone thrown at their van caused its windshield to crack, and spikes "deliberately scattered" on the road punctured their tires.

After being stopped at the checkpoint en route to Tagum, Ocampo said hours of negotiations for them to leave led to the delegation agreeing to go the Talaingod police station at almost midnight.

The students were separately interviewed until around 3 a.m. while his group waited, Ocampo said. They were asked to wait until early afternoon of November 29, which was when they were allegedly told that they have been considered arrested since 11:30 p.m. of the previous night.

Ocampo claimed he protested the warrantless arrest. He also denied the allegations of the supposed witnesses supporting the complaints against them. —LDF, GMA News