SEAToday.com, Mindanao – Former representative Bayan Muna Satur Ocampo, ACT teachers party-list representative France Castro, and 11 teachers are convicted in Davao court for failure to protect children from abuse (07/16/2024).

All of them are sentenced to at least 4 years, up to 6 years in prison, and a fine of up to 10000 pesos.

Before going to Davao, the Tagum City Regional Trial Court (TRC) convicted Ocampo and Castro in 2018 of child abuse relating to an incident involving ‘lumad’ (indigenous) students in Mindanao.

The decision stemmed from the military force closing the school, asking teachers to leave, and forcing the students to walk in the dark after sunset for three hours from Sitio Dulyan to Sitio Butay.

The children were finally safe when a van by the group of Castro and Ocampo fetched the students after distressed calls from teachers

Additionally, Ocampo and Castro were part of the military national solidarity mission, which makes them prone to being convicted.

In its decision, the court said that Ocampo, Castro, and 11 teachers had exposed the children to unsafe conditions without any assistance from their teachers.

However, in a joint statement, Ocampo and Castro denounced the decision as unacceptable, unjust, and deemed such a conviction “a clear miscarriage of justice” as the court did not convict the military members.

Writer: Patricia Febi