Press Release
21 March 2007
MIRIAM: IS SATUR POLITICAL OFFENDER OR TERRORIST?
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, a constitutional law expert, said that the verdict on the murder charges against Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo will depend on whether the court finds him to be a political offender, or a terrorist.
Santiago said that under the 1987 Aquino proclamation granting amnesty to rebels, the amnesty applied only to “any act penalized under existing laws in furtherance of their political beliefs.”
“In other words, the amnesty applied only to political offenders, but today, a terrorist is no longer considered a political offender,” the senator said.
Santiago, whose doctoral dissertation was published as the book, Political Offenses in International Law, said a political offense is “an offense committed in the course of, and incidental to, a violent political disturbance, such as war, revolution, and rebellion. A political offense is any crime directly against the government, for example, treason and sedition.”
“Under jurisprudence, an offense does not have a political character, simply because it is politically motivated,” the former UP law professor stressed.
The senator said that while the Aquino proclamation exempted “crimes committed from purely personal motives,” international law has added terrorism as another exception.
“When Ocampo escaped from jail in May 1985, terrorism under international law was already defined as any activity that involved a violent act dangerous to human life that is also a violation of Philippine criminal law,” she said.
Santiago said that a terrorist activity should be intended to achieve any of the following goals: to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by assassination.
Military information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said Tuesday that the military will present a witness who will testify that Ocampo was in Leyte in 1985, when the alleged mass murder in Inopacan, Leyte, was committed.
“While the defense will argue that Satur is a political offender, the military will argue that he is a terrorist who does not fall under any amnesty proclamation, said Santiago, a former Quezon City RTC judge.
Santiago added that because the military discovered the Leyte mass grave only in August last year, the 20-year period for filing the murder cases has not yet prescribed. -o0o-