• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Bayan Negros condemned in the strongest terms the candidacy of (Quezon City) Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert for the position of Associate Justice in the Court of Appeals and Sandiganbayan.
Villavert was scheduled to be interviewed by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) yesterday, a statement issued to the DAILY STAR said.
“We find Villavert’s audacity to vie for such positions appalling, given her track record of being an alleged stamp pad and ‘fake warrant factory’ against activists and rights defenders during (ex-president) Rodrigo Duterte’s all-out war against the mass movement. From the years 2018 to 2020, her search warrants led to the arrest of 76 activists,” it said.
It was Villlavert who issued the search warrants that led to the November 2019’s ‘Negros crackdown’, where elements from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) raided the headquarters of progressive organizations and private residence in Bacolod and Escalante cities. On the premise of planted firearms and explosives and other trumped up charges, about 57 individuals were arrested then, most of whom were activists and workers, the press release said.
Like the tyrant Duterte, she too has blood on her hands. Remember that aside from illegal arrests, her search warrants also led to the Bloody Sunday Massacre across Southern Tagalog in 2021. It, too, led to the arrest of the then pregnant activist Reina Mae Nasino, whose Baby River did not survive the harsh conditions in jail, it said.
The Supreme Court has squashed the warrants issued by Villavert many times as null and void for failure to meet the standards of a valid warrant. These include the nullification of warrants used to arrest journalist Lady Ann Salem in 2021 and Reina Mae Nasino in 2022. In view of this, what Villavert might truly deserve more than her aspiration for a higher position, is disbarment. She exemplifies the rot that festers this country’s justice systems and which allows facism to reign, the press release said.
“We urgently appeal for the immediate disqualification of Villavert from being considered for a higher position in court. Who knows how many more human rights violations she is capable of (committing) with a higher position in the Court of Appeals, it said.
Under the Marcos regime, which merely continues the fascist attacks on progressive groups and individuals, we need people in our justice system who side with the rule of law and do not allow themselves to be used as a pawn for corrupt and despotic politics. Certainly, Villavert is not one of them, the press release added.*
