Karapatan-Southern Mindanao announced last week that a Davao de Oro court dismissed the criminal cases filed against two political prisoners in Tagum City. With the decision, one of them will be freed.

According to the group, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 56 dismissed on November 26 the cases of multiple murder, frustrated murder, multiple frustrated murder, and theft against Catherine Guinoo and Roel Villanueva Cabales. The dismissal followed the withdrawal of all prosecution witnesses against the two.

“The dismissal came after a dramatic series of events during the hearing,” the group said. The prosecution was supposed to present 66th IB’s PFC Rey Agustin Balcorsa as witness on that day.

Balcorsa was reportedly one of the survivors of the encounter between the New People’s Army (NPA) and soldiers in October 2008 in the town of New Bataan. The charges filed against Guinoo and Cabales were based on that incident.

At the hearing, the prosecution requested a 5-minute break before Balcorsa could give his testimony. Balcorsa suddenly withdrew upon court resumption. The prosecution also stated that all remaining witnesses were no longer capable of testifying.

“With no witnesses left to support the allegations, the case against Guinoo and Cabales effectively collapsed,” Karapatan-Southern Mindanao said. The court’s dismissal of the case proved that the charges were fabricated to silence them, according to the group.

Guinoo and Cabales have been detained for more than a year at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Tagum City. State forces arrested them on November 16, 2024, in Cotabato City.

From the time of their arrest, the process was already riddled with irregularities, including the arresting officers’ lack of body-worn cameras, according to Karapatan-Southern Mindanao. While in detention, state forces also subjected the two to “intrusive, personal, and repeated” interrogations.

Guinoo will be freed as she no longer faces any other criminal case. Her release will reduce the number of political prisoners in the region to at least 42.