Free Ka Bel NOW!

It's about time!

Yesterday the Supreme Court thumbed down the rebellion charges against the six progressive solons. In a strongly yet lucidly-worded 21-page decision, the SC finally affirmed what Atty. Romeo Capulong, Ka Bel, and the Batasan 5 have been saying all along, over and over again, for the past fifteen months: that the charges of rebellion by the Arroyo administration and the Department of Justice are flawed, baseless, malicious, utterly bereft of scrupulousness and impartiality.

Ka Bel, particularly, is vindicated in the decision, which only underscores the fact that the government had no legal basis or right to detain him. The SC also reprimands government prosecutors of their abuse of discretion and lack of impartiality in handling Ka Bel's case, particularly in the way that they proceeded with an inquest despite fully knowing that the Philippine police illegally arrested Ka Bel, without a warrant in the first place.

This reminds me of something that Atty. Joel Butuyan wrote and dissseminated in an e-groups, about the rights of would-be abductees in this time of enforced disappearances. Taking off from the case of Jonas Burgos, who was arrested by "policemen" in civilian clothing, he writes:

The rule is that policemen do not have an inherent authority to arrest by reason alone of their uniforms and guns. Their authority to arrest arises only when either of two exceptional circumstances are present: ONE, when the policemen have a warrant of arrest, and; TWO, when the policemen are personally in the presence of a person in the act of committing a crime.

Any policeman who takes any person into custody without either of the two exceptional circumstances is not making an arrest. He is in the act of committing a dastardly crime. He is the criminal.

The SC decision stopped short of saying that the state prosecutors from the CIDG and DOJ were coddling criminals all along. But what it makes clear is that some institutions of the state have been used for political exigency, to the extent that they would not hesitate to effect a "miscarriage of justice" (in Ka Bel's words) as a means to further their ends.

DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzales should really keep his mouth shut this time around. After he dissed representatives from the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) as mere foreigners meddling in the affairs of the Philippines for their recommendation that Ka Bel be released from detention, I don't think he will be able to comfortably assert that the all-Filipino SC shouldn't be meddling in the affairs of the DOJ or something to that effect, without making a global laughingstock of himself. Although he's come pretty close to getting there.

I'm so happy for Ka Bel's family, especially Ka Osang, who had to endure seeing her husband be detained twice over, and Janrei, who will be having his favorite lolo back. Still, I'm reserving my loudest hurrahs for the time when we all see Ka Bel actually released, when he finally gets out and goes back to Congress and the streets to continue with all the duties cut short by his detention. It's where he is happiest, and where he is most needed.

From Ka Bel I learned that victory should always be accepted with humility, dignity, and a resolve to continue with the struggle. Which is why, while recognizing the gravity of the crimes committed against him and asserting the call for justice and accountability from his captors, I'm happy to see that Ka Bel's again gearing up for the fight for workers' wage increases and other needs of the toiling masses.

Free Ka Bel NOW!