The Department of Justice (DOJ) secured the conviction of a cashier of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) within the Northern Mindanao area over terrorist financing by a plea discount and with out trial, legal professionals of the group stated on Friday.
“On March 16, 2023, the Public Attorney’s Office presented Angelie Z. Magdua to the Regional Trial Court Branch 1 in Iligan City for arraignment and proposed a plea bargain of the charges against her from violation of Section 8 to violation of Section 7 of Republic Act (RA) 10168,” the Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) stated in a press release.
RA 10168 pertains to the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.
Section 7 defines an adjunct to the crime of Financing Terrorism and imposes a penalty that’s two levels decrease than that which is imposable on a principal offender.
Magdua, one of many cashiers of the RMP, was convicted for being an adjunct to the crime of terrorist financing.
The DOJ stated the group obtained donations to finance the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.
UPLM stated that on March 16, the courtroom additionally agreed on the plea discount settlement which downgraded Magdua’s offense to violation of Section 7 of the identical legislation and held her responsible of 55 counts of violation of the stated part.
“Interestingly, the State through the DOJ, issued no grand announcement of Magdua’s alleged surrender on December 4, 2022 as it usually does when a so-called ‘terrorist’ returns to the fold of the law,” the lawyers said.
“Instead, the DOJ claimed victory over her March 16 ‘conviction’ but was eerily silent over the fact that it was on a plea bargain that, in effect, conveniently bypassed trial of these cases where the testimony of Magdua and the state’s other witnesses would have been subject to judicial scrutiny of the Court,” they added.
Despite the conviction, UPLM maintained that such fees in opposition to Magdua and different RMP members are bogus.
“The fallacious statement of the DOJ about the conviction of Angeline Z. Magdua will not in any way weaken the resolve of the RMP and its 16 workers, all unjustly charged with trumped-up cases of financing terrorism. Instead of addressing the root causes of the country’s still ongoing armed conflict, the State resorted to this despicable measure only to silence dissent and criticisms over its failures,” it stated.
UPLM stated that unfounded fees in opposition to RMP members have “deprived” lumad and peasant communities of a faithful ally of their resistance in opposition to intrusions of extractive mining operations and large-scale agricultural enterprises within the area, in addition to companions in defending themselves.
GMA News Online has reached out to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla for his remark and can publish it as quickly at it turns into accessible.—With Richa Noriega/LDF, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
