Beltran today said that he will not enter any plea in this afternoon's
hearing of the sedition case against him at the Quezon City Regional
Trial Court Branch 43. The said court headed by Acting Presiding Judge
Thelma de los Santos had denied Beltran 's motion to quash the
government's move to proceed with Criminal Case No. 132943 or the case
charging him with sedition.
"I will not plead to anything. I do recognize the legitimacy of the
charges against me. I was arrested based on a long-lapsed warrant; the
testimonies against me are all fabricated, and the witnesses are all
completely lacking in credibility. Let the court declare a plea on my
behalf because I will not. I have been detained for over a year on a
rebellion charge that has already been dismissed; and on the strength
of testimonies that are patently false. This is a serious miscarriage
of justice, "he said, defiant. He said that all charges against him
should be dismissed because of glaring legal technicalities and the
blatant perjury of the witnesses.
Beltran, 74, has been on a 'freedom fast' since Thursday morning as
has been subsisting solely on soda crackers and water. He embarked on
his fast in protest against his continuing incarceration as well as
against the arrest of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. He will be
attending this afternoon's arraignement on an essentially empty
stomach.
"The Macapagal-Arroyo government continues to deny millions of
Filipinos justice. The constantly worsening conditions of poverty,
hunger and joblessness are grave injustices that remain unresolved.
Add to these the escalating attacks against the human rights and civil
liberties of Filipinos and what we have is a criminal government. My
continuing incarceration is further proof that there is no democracy
in the Philippines against the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. The
Arroyo government is now completely utilizing and relying on
underhanded and downright dirty means to silence its critics. The
victims, however, will not be silent. We will not be silenced and
continue to expose and protest against Pres. Arroyo's burgeoning
dictatorship," he said.
The activist lawmaker and detainee said that his legal counsels led by
Public Interest Law Center (PILC) president Atty. Romeo Capulong,
Atty. Rachel Pastores and Atty. Amylyn Sato intend to file a motion
for certiorari on the sedition charges against him. "I cannot be
charged with both sedition and rebellion. The more serious crime
should absorb the lesser crime; I, however, am innocent of both
charges. I have an elected lawmaker since 2001 and done nothing but
take full advantage and use of the parliamentary arena to further the
cause of the poor and marginalized sectors which the progressive
party-lists represent," he said.
Beltran challenged Department of Justice secretary Raul Gonzales to
personally read and review all the testimonies supposedly proving
Beltran's guilt. "If there's any sense of logic, reason and justice in
Sec. Gonzales, he himself would concede that all the testimonies
against me are fabrications. Himself a lawyer, he will easily see that
all the evidence prove nothing of my supposed guilt but point towards
by innocence of the charges. All I am guilty of is actively denouncing
the abuses and corruption of the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency, and all
that is within my rights not so much as a lawmaker, but as a Filipino
living in a supposedly democratic society," he said.
In the meantime, the veteran labor leader turned legislator lauded the
decision of the Permanent People's Tribunal to declare the
Macapagal-Arroyo government guilty responsible for the extrajudicial
killings and disappearances in the country.
"The Arroyo government cannot continue to ignore the growing number of
institutions and internationalists expressing condemnation for the
worsening human rights situation in the Philippines. Pres. Arroyo's
stubborn insistence to stand by and defend the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) and their paramilitary groups only exacerbate the
crime of sanctioning the wide-scale execution of political activists
and human rights advocates," he concluded.#
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