Activists may face charges for changing affidavit: PAO
Two activists, who claimed they were abducted by the military, may face charges for changing their affidavit which they signed in the presence of a Public Attorney's Office (PAO) lawyer.
This was emphasized by PAO chief Persida Acosta, after Jhed Reiyana Tamano and Jonila Castro changed their statement in a press conference of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) at the municipal hall in Plaridel, Bulacan on Tuesday.
"They can be charged with perjury and be imprisoned because they deceived the PAO. They claimed that they were threatened but the PAO is there," Acosta said in a TV interview.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the two activists is "lying under oath".
"It's lying under oath. To teach them a lesson, the public attorney said they can freely give their statement and why many people will have to lie just for this," he said in a separate TV interview.
The National Security Council (NSC) said Tamano and Castro were turned over to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) following the controversial press conference in Bulacan on Tuesday.
"We turned them over immediately to the commission on human rights, they are in the custody right now of the CHR," NSC Assistant Director General and National Task Force - West Philippine Sea spokesman Jonathan Malaya said in an earlier television interview.
Malaya admitted that the government was deceived by the two activists when they denied their affidavit and claimed that they were abducted by the military.
"Yes, it was intentional and we were betrayed and we were hoodwinked but as I said we are not unfazed. We learned from lessons. We are not perfect. All of the agencies of government who worked together to accept them to the fold of law again are unfazed and what we have done to show our good faith," he said.
Malaya expressed belief that everything that happened was part of the operation of the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army - National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) .
"We released videos of them administering their oath. We released all of these videos to the media, but of course these are drowned now. These are all drowned by the revelation, alleged revelation that the government is now a sponsor of state terrorism," he said.
"They are now spinning this to show that the NTF-ELCAC is a sponsor of state terrorism when in fact the reality is not true and the facts will come out. There will be a discussion today about what to reveal about these two individuals so that the public can see both sides," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
