By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Tuesday filed a perjury complaint before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office against representatives of organizations linked to the communist movement for claiming that Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In his three-page affidavit-complaint, Esperon, also concurrent vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said respondents Cristina Palabay, Sr. Elenita Belardo, Romeo Clamor, Gabriela Krista Dalena, Editha Burgos, Jose Mari Callueng, Wilfredo Ruazol, Elisa Tita P. Lubi, Reylan B. Vergara, Sr. Maria Cupin, Joan May Salvador, and Gertrudes Ranjo-Liang all swore to a notary public that RMP is duly registered non-stock, non-profit organization registered with the SEC.
“Contrary to the verification and certification, executed by petitioners, the SEC already revoked the certificate of RMP on August 20, 2003, for its failure to submit the required General Information Sheets and Financial Statements from 1997 to 2002. The revocation took effect on September 23, 2003,” Esperon’s affidavit read.
He said he is filing the case of perjury in solemn affirmation against the respondents.
Falsification
“Nag-file ako ng case ng perjury (I filed a case of perjury). In other words, pame-meke ng datos (falsification of data). May nag-file kasi ng kaso samin, yun yung (Because somebody filed a case against us, this was the) Rural Missionaries of the Philippines,” Esperon said in an interview after filing the complaint.
He added that the groups were the first to file a case against the government.
“But when we looked into their background, they were not registered with the SEC. It backfired on them. You can go to the SEC right now but you won’t find their registration. It was back in 2003 they last registered; it’s been expired for 16 years. But they are still saying they are registered and collecting donations from everywhere to fund the activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army [CPP-NPA],” Esperon said in Filipino.
Palabay is Karapatan secretary general while Belardo is the national coordinator of RMP. Both Karapatan and RMP have been tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as linked to the CPP-NPA, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The new complaint came after the 14th division of the Court of Appeals dismissed a petition for writs of amparo and habeas data by the respondents against Esperon, President Duterte, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other government officials to protect themselves from the government naming them and their organizations as linked to CPP.
Esperon, however, clarifies that the government does not claim everyone in RMP to be members of the communist terrorist group.
“Not all of them are members of the CPP-NPA because the RMP have nuns, priests, and laymen as members. But many of their group are members of the communist party and those are the ones running RMP,” he said.
Esperon said the RMP runs some of the controversial ‘salugpungan’ schools that cater to the ‘lumad’ or indigenous peoples in remote parts of the country.
“They are running the schools of the NPA in Region 11 [Davao Region]. These are the schools of the lumad where their youth are taught hate, hatred against the government,” Esperon said.
He, meanwhile, offered the protection of the government for law-abiding members of the RMP but said their members who are part of the CPP-NPA will be prosecuted.
The NTF-ELCAC is a government task force made up of civilian and law enforcing bodies created by President Duterte through Executive Order 70 providing for a whole-of-nation approach in defeating the communist insurgency.
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