MANILA (UCAN): A criminal case was filed on August 15 by the Justice Department of the Philippines against 16 people, including several religious sisters from the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines [RMP], for allegedly financing terrorists and violating the country’s anti-terrorism law. The case was filed with a trial court in Iligan City in Mindanao.
The accused have been charged with supposedly financing the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, which is branded a terrorist organisation by the Philippine government.
The charges against the sisters, whose number and identities remain undisclosed, and the others, come days after the state-run Commission on the Filipino Language [Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino] banned five textbooks for allegedly encouraging terrorism.
“The anti-terrorism law defines and penalises terrorism financing as giving financial aid such as donations, which also include the transfer of any property or funds, or financial services and other related services, to an individual or group designated as a terrorist by the government,” Justice Department lawyer, Mico Clavano, told reporters on August 15.
Some cases take months or even years but the case against the sisters took only weeks. They were not given an opportunity to defend themselves because authorities knew they were not involved in any crime
Samahang Layko ng Pilipinas
Clavano said that if the court agrees with the Justice Department, it can issue an arrest warrant against the accused, including the nuns.
“The charge is terror financing, and the law provides that the offense is a non-bailable crime, they would go to jail while the trial is ongoing… It is what the law says,” Clavano added.
If found guilty, the sisters would face up to 40 years in prison and a fine of between 500,000 to one million pesos [$70,000 to 140,000].
The Justice Department said that the charges were based on the testimonies two former members of the New People’s Army.
“According to the witnesses, the sisters … prepared a proposal to be presented to foreign funders. These foreign funders donate and give money to finance projects of terrorist groups,” the Justice Department claimed.
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Human rights groups, however, said the Justice Department railroaded the filing of the case in secrecy before the accused could defend themselves.
“Some cases take months or even years but the case against the sisters took only weeks. They were not given an opportunity to defend themselves because authorities knew they were not involved in any crime,” said Samahang Layko ng Pilipinas, a Catholic lay group in the Philippines.
The Justice Department, however, claimed that the sisters were given the opportunity but did not do so.
