ILOILO City – The Regional Trial Court (RTC) here dismissed the criminal charges of human trafficking filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) against activist Lean Porquia, the former national president of the BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) and currently the lead convener of the Citizens Rights Watch Network (CRWN).
Porquia is also the son of Ilonggo activist Jory Porquia who was assassinated on April 30, 2020.
“The dismissal is a most welcome development amidst the rise in trumped-up cases filed by the police and military against activists to justify their arrest and detention as well as the commission of other human rights violations,” according to the human rights group Panay Alliance Karapatan in a statement.
The case against Porquia involved an alleged violation of Republic Act 9208 supposedly for recruiting a minor to the League of Filipino Students when he was still in college.
The police claimed that the alleged act amounted to recruitment of a minor to engage in armed activities.
Porquia denied the allegation but the Department of Justice issued a resolution indicting him for the offense.
In an Order dated April 11, the RTC dismissed the case and said that “[a] search in the Resolution and its supporting evidence did not show any iota of proof that the League of Filipino Students was or is engaged in armed activities in the Philippines or abroad.”
In a statement, Porquia said the “trumped-up” cases against him were “dangerous and summarizes the state-policy of filing make-up charges to burden activists financially and emotionally, and distracting from the failure of the government to address issues like wage increase and human rights.”
Porquia and his family have repeatedly been the subject of persecution in the form of red-tagging, surveillance, baseless criminal charges, according to Panay Alliance Karapatan.
Three years after Lean’s father was killed, no case has been filed against any of the perpetrators.
“We are the victims but I was ironically charged of trumped-up cases while those who killed Tatay remain free until today,” lamented Porquia.
Panay Alliance Karapatan considers the dismissal of the charges against Porquia as vindication from the “false accusations against activists.”
“Activists are not criminals. This fact was recognized in the RTC’s ruling. There is nothing wrong in joining organizations advocating for human rights and pushing for social reforms,” according to the human rights group./PN
