2nd of 5 parts
NAGA CITY —By 2014, the so-called Misuari Cases before the RTC of Zamboanga City were transferred to the RTC of Pasig City for security purposes and also for the convenience of a designated Department of Justice Panel of Special Prosecutors as well as the more than 200 accused detainees likewise transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. The three cases were docketed as Crim. Cases Nos.
2. Her Resolution of 29 May 2017 approving plea bargaining in the Rebellion case to the lesser offense of Sedition under Art. 139 of the RPC for 133 accused agreeable, leaving 93 to face trial for Rebellion. As for the two War Crimes charges, giving the Prosecution 15 days to amend them to Sedition for the same 133 accused, leaving 93 to face trial for War Crimes.
The convictions, if indeed, for Sedition in all three Misuari Cases against the above-said 133 accused, presumably low-ranking MNLF fighters or foot-soldiers, may be seen as a partial, even small, measure of justice. Judge San Pedro in her 27 October 2017 Resolution explained well the rationale for plea-bargaining from Rebellion to the lesser offense of Sedition and for the amendments of the Informations of War Crimes to Sedition.
But will this ever come to pass? At the rate things are going, Misuari has become practically “Untouchable” as long as he is deemed by the peace policy-decision makers as indispensable to the Mindanao peace process with a unified MNLF-MILF for the Bangsamoro. When might peace give way to justice here? – even as Judge San Pedro adopted the view that “It is no longer a question of whether to pursue justice or peace, but instead a challenge of when and how to pursue both.
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