The Regional Trial Court-Branch 74 in Cebu City dismissed on June 24 the “terrorism financing” case filed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines against Geraldine Labradores and Msgr. Merlin Logronio. Labradores and Logronio were among the list of new and former members of the Community Empowerment and Resource Network (CERNET) accused of providing funds to the New People’s Army. Both have been deceased when the case was filed.

“We welcome the court’s order because it highlights the lack of investigation by the DoJ when it joined the AFP in pressuring CERNET with fabricated and malicious stories…,” Karapatan-Central Visayas said. Due to the dismissal of the case against the two, the fabricated “terrorism financing” case against CERNET has weakened even more.

“We are confident that the fabricated case of the DoJ and AFP against development workers will be thrown into the dustbin of history,” the group said. They also insisted that victims of Red-tagging and harassment, such as CERNET, should be compensated.