Court junks terror financing charges against Negros development workers

MANILA – A local court dismissed the terrorism financing charges against community development officers of Paghida-et sa Kauswagan Development Group, Inc. (PDG). 

In a decision dated March 14, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 31 of Iloilo City dismissed the charges against Federico “Pedring” Salvilla and Perla Pavillar, both PDG officers, and Daryl Albanez. They were accused of violating the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA) of 2012. 

“This victory is only the beginning. The fight continues. If they come for us again, we will be ready. We will never stop organizing, mobilizing, and resisting,” said PDG in a statement sent to Bulatlat.

Salvilla, Pavillar, and Albañez were arrested on Jan. 2 for the said allegations. Due to this, PDG submitted a letter to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Jan. 17, urging the latter to conduct an investigation into the incident.

The PDG said the case is not just about them, but the growing authoritarian tactics used against those who resist. 

“It is about the systematic red-tagging, harassment, and repression of organizations that challenge land grabbing, environmental destruction, and corporate greed,” they added, underscoring that the voluntary cooperation of their workers with authorities and their firm stance against these allegations reaffirmed their innocence.

In a previous Bulatlat report, Pavillar reached out to human rights institutions to expose the series of red-tagging, threats, and harassment she had been subjected to, together with peoples’ organizations that partner with PDG.

Last year, she testified in CHR’s public inquiry on red-tagging in the Visayas region and in the dialogue with the United Nations Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression and Information Irene Khan.

Read: Negros-based NGO calls for CHR probe into the arrest of their workers

“The state may attempt to brand us as criminals, but we stand firm: we are not terrorists—we are defenders of land, life, and justice,” the group said. “This dismissal proves what we have always known: their accusations were built on lies, and their only goal was to weaken the resistance of the people. But they have failed.”

In the said court decision, RTC Branch 31 Presiding Judge Cyril R. Regalado declared the mode of designation under the TFPSA as unconstitutional. 

The accused are being implicated based on the designation of “terrorist organizations” under the Human Security Act (HSA), which has been repealed.

“Therefore, sub paragraphs 2 and 3 of Section 3(e) of the TFPSA, which recognized designated persons as those prescribed under the HSA, and those whose funds are subject to seizure under the HSA, are now inoperative because they are based on a repeal law,” Regalado noted.

Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the TFPSA stated: “Designated person refers to (2) any organization, association, or group of persons proscribed pursuant to Section 17 of the Human Security Act of 2007; or (3) any person, organization, association, or group of persons whose funds or property, based on probable cause are subject to seizure and sequestration under Section 39 of the Human Security Act of 2007.”

Despite the legal victory, PDG calls on the court to exercise jurisdiction over two other co-accused of the terrorism financing charges: Felipe Levy Gelle Jr. and Clarisa Ramos. PDG said, “Upon proper jurisdiction, we remain confident that the same principles of justice will apply, leading to the dismissal of the charges against them as well.”

Defend NGOs Alliance reported at the onset of this year that 33 percent of the 129 non-governmental organizations surveyed nationwide are accused of financing terrorism. The case of PDG is among those documented.

The alliance has also called out the increasing use of terrorism and terrorism financing legislations to target grassroots organizations and human rights defenders in what they described as a “desperate attempt” to exit the greylist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The FATF, established in 1989, is an intergovernmental organization that collaborates with regional bodies and member nations to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other threats to global financial security. 

Just recently, the Philippines was officially removed from the FATF’s greylist last Feb. 21. The Philippines has been in FATF’s greylist since 2021. The Philippine government applauded the removal, stating that it could facilitate “faster and lower-cost cross-border transactions, reduce compliance barriers, and enhance financial transparency.”

However, the removal was dubbed as a “pyrrhic victory” by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) since it was achieved “at the cost of human rights, built on a foundation of political repression.”

“The FATF congratulates the Philippines without acknowledging the rampant misuse of counterterrorism financing laws to silence dissent and criminalize civil society,” NUPL said. “The surge in fabricated terrorism financing cases, arbitrary asset freezes, and instances of financial exclusion are not “unintended consequences” of compliance; they are deliberate tactics used to satisfy the FATF’s mandates at the cost of human rights.” (AMU, RVO)

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