In Fighting Form
Now on his 4th day of fasting, Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran, Ka
Bel, says that he is very much prepared to once more face his accusers in court
tomorrow, March 25 as the arraignment for the sedition case against him is
heard at the Metropolitan Trial Court of
Metro Manila Branch 43 in Quezon City at 1:30 pm. He is still demanding the court dismiss all charges against him and
immediately have him released in the interest of justice and truth.
Ka Bel began his fast last Thursday in gratitude to and solidarity with the political detainees from all over the country who began a hunger strike in protest of Ka Bel and Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo’s incarceration. Ka Bel himself was outraged by the PNP and Arroyo government’s botched Let’s-drag-Satur-off-to-Leyte-in-a-Cessna plot and for the last week his blood pressure has been like a teeter-toter board going up and down, up and down.
I’ve heard expressions of dismay and worry over Ka Bel and his fasting. Friends and colleagues were worried that given Ka Bel’s current health condition, going on a fast may not have been the best thing.
First off, let me clear myself: I may be his chief of staff, but heck, this wasn’t my idea. It was Ka Bel’s. He wanted to do something to protest what was done to Ka Satur (when they talked on the phone last week Ka Bel said it was all he could do to stop himself from telling Satur to hand the phone to the arresting officer — "para mamura ko siya…" Ka Bel is a very patient man, but his patience has limits. Seeing a respected colleague being treated like a common criminal was way too much).
Anyways, his doctor at the Philippine Heart Center Dr. Raymundo said that fasting was good for Ka Bel and his hypertension. A few months back Ka Bel began to monitor his diet and cut back his food intake. Instead of having a cup and a half of rice, he reduced it to one cup, and eventually to half cup. Now, well, he’s sticking to Sky Flakes soda crackers and water, or consomme.
Ka Bel is in fighting form. Even his CIDG guards tell me how amazed they are at Ka Bel’s stamina (despite the hypertension, diabetes, lung trouble, etc).
‘Mam, yung ibang mga kasing edad ni Sir naka-wheel chair na, o nakakabit sa respirator. Si Sir, nagpu-push-up pa…’
Actually, Ka Bel’s health only began to slide when he was arrested. The stress of being detained by a corrupt and inhumane government is tremendous.
Anyways, bukas ang arraignment niya.
It has been months since the court
heard his case, and it’s a grievous violation against his rights. As an elected
lawmaker, he has the right to immunity, but the courts have chosen to ignore
this fact. The leadership of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Jose
de Venecia has also done nothing to vouch for Ka Bel and his rights. Despite
all this, Ka Bel remains in fighting
form, ready and eager to ready to prove that all the charges and testimonies
made against me by the various ‘pakawala’ of the Macapagal-Arroyo government
are out and out lies.
Ka Bel, 74, has been fasting since Wednesday in
protest of his continuing detention and the attacks against fellow progressive
lawmakers, mainly Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. He also began his fast in
solidarity with and in gratitude to other political detainees all over the
country protesting against his and Ocampo’s incarceration.
It’s yet another testament to how
twisted the judicial system in the country is, the way the courts are still
slow to discern genuine and legitimate cases from purely politically-motivated ones,
cases that in truth should be considered ‘nuisance cases’ and a waste of public
funds. The charges of sedition and rebellion against me are all baseless, and
the results of a malicious and vicious plot to weaken the progressive bloc of
party-lists and their effective campaign of being the voice of the Filipino
people in the congress. Malacanang and the Department of Justice led by Sec.
Raul Gonzalez and well as national security adviser Norberto Gonzales continue
to pursue these charges against Ka Bel not because he is guilty, but because they are
pikon. They are retaliating in this
underhanded way for all the just and legitimate criticism progressive lawmakers
like Ka Bel and Ka Satur have made
against them and their policies that attack the Filipino people’s economic,
political and human rights.
The court has denied Rep. Beltran
’s motion to quash the government’s move to proceed with Criminal Case No.
132943 or the case charging him with sedition. The court has ordered a
full-blown trial. The decision was laid down by Acting Presiding Judge Thelma
de los Santos.
De los Santos has ordered that the sedition case against Ka Bel be
deliberated in a full-blown hearing, denying the motion of Ka Bel’s lawyers
that the case be immediately dismissed on the grounds that Ka Bel’s arrest on February 25, 2006 was illegal and
that the arresting officers did not have a warrant for his arrest much less
clear-cut charges to back it up. The court also denied the assertion of Atty.
Romeo Capulong, Atty. Amylyn Sato and Atty. Rachel Pastores that the court
erred in holding that the crime of inciting to sedition can be absorbed in the
crime of rebellion despite the clear ruling in People vs. Hernandez and People
vs. Geronimo.
In the meantime, Ka Bel’s lawyers intend to file a motion for certiorari
on the sedition case. They insist that sedition and rebellion charges
should be heard as one and the same.
They have been petitioning the court that the more serious case of rebellion
should be heard while the sedition charges should be dropped.
