Activists call for dismissal of Leyte ‘mass grave’ case as Esperon takes witness stand

Activists called for the dismissal of multiple murder charges against Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison and several others in connection with an alleged mass grave in Leyte as National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. testified in court on Monday.

Esperon took the witness stand at the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32, which ordered the arrest of Sison, Rodolfo Salas, Luis Jalandoni, and more than 30 others last year, over a decade since the supposed discovery of a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte purportedly containing the bones of victims of the alleged purging by the New People's Army in the 1980s.

Former Bayan Muna congressman Satur Ocampo and NDF consultant Vicente Ladlad are also among the accused, as was peasant leader Randall Echanis until his death this year. Ocampo is out on bail.

After the hearing, Esperon showed reporters an album containing photos of his visit to Leyte where the bones were allegedly found in 2006. He said his work in the intelligence community has exposed him to documents regarding the "internal purgings" of the CPP-NPA.

The trial will resume next month, and the former military chief of staff said he would present more evidence, "including a video clip of admission by CPP-NPA of their mistake in perpetrating the internal purgings."

In a protest outside the courthouse, members of the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) said Esperon's testimony is "based on hearsay, highly questionable evidence and recycled testimonies full of inconsistencies."

SELDA Secretary General Rosalia Bacarra in a statement said the case is "preposterous," claiming the charges were initially based on the supposed discovery of three skeletons in an alleged mass grave in Baybay, Leyte and had been dismissed in 2005.

The prisoner rights group Kapatid's spokesperson Fides Lim, the wife of Ladlad, also claimed Esperon's testimony was marked by "hearsay evidence."

"What is most essential to this case is not what was said by the star witness but what is being covered up: How skeletons found in a 'mass grave' in Baybay, Leyte in June 2000 traveled to Inopacan, Leyte in August 2006 and resurrected a dismissed case called The Case of the Traveling Skeletons," Lim said in a statement. 

"It doesn’t matter if Satur Ocampo and the other defendants were political prisoners during the supposed period of the case or couldn’t have been remotely involved. Because it has been so easy to amend the complaint and manufacture evidence and witnesses to suit a twisted agenda," she said.

The trial will resume on December 14.—LDF, GMA News