NTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION SAYS : Rebellion, crime raps vs solons, harassment (tags)
PESANTE NEWS reported from news sources from MANILA today that Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) said that the Rebellion charges and other criminal cases filed against four progressive party-list lawmakers were all meant to impair their capacity to perform their tasks as members of the House of Representatives. The four lawmakers raised the concern before the IPU in 2007 after the government filed rebellion charges against them for their alleged involvement in the foiled plot to overthrow the Arroyo administration in February 2006. The the international body then urged the Arroyo administration to act on the cases with dispatch or right away clear Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casino of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela, and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis.
Resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council (tags)
Referring to the case of Mr. Crispin Beltran, Mr. Saturniño Ocampo, Mr. Joel Virador, Mr. Teodoro Casiño, Ms. Liza Maza and Mr. Rafael Mariano, who, apart from the latter, are all incumbent members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/182/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 181st session (October 2007),