Bayan Muna Party-list Representative, Satur Ocampo and ACT Teachers Party-list Representative, France Castro, were found guilty of child abuse by the Regional Trial Court in Tagum, Davao del Norte.
The two convicted people face four to six years of imprisonment for the violation of Section 10(a) of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.
Based on the 25-page decision, the court ordered that they pay, jointly and severally, P10,000 as civil indemnity and P10,000 for the oral damages to each victim, with an interest rate of six percent per annum from finality of the decision until the last payment.
The trafficking charges began when Ocampo, Castro, and several others were on a National Security Mission in Talaingod to provide aid and rescue for the Lumad schools in the area. During that time, the persistent attacks in the said communities led to the investigation on the human rights violations by the armed paramilitary group, ALAMARA.
However, as the group were inside the vehicle, Talaingod police officers and soldiers from the 56th IB at Barangay Santo Niño stopped them at checkpoint and arrested them.
The defendants' camp is currently looking into their next course of action, studying whether to file a motion for reconsideration or file an appeal instead.
Both parties have denied the charges, stating that it was a “clear miscarriage of justice.”
