FACT CHECK: Jay Sonza errs on conviction of France Castro, Satur Ocampo

A Tagum City Regional Trial Court (RTC) convicted Rep. France Castro of ACT Teachers Party-list and former representative Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna for endangering the lives of minors, not kidnapping as claimed by former broadcaster Jay Sonza.

STATEMENT

In a July 14 Facebook post bearing the 2018 mugshots of Castro and Ocampo, Sonza wrote:

“GUILTY AS CHARGED

Kidnapping = 8 years imprisonment

Napatunayan sa hukumang ito (RTC, Tagum City, Davao Del Norte) na si Cong. FRANCE CASTRO ng Alliance of Concern (sic) Teachers Partylist at Cong. SATUR OCAMPO ng Bayan Muna Partylist ay nagkasala sa salang sapilitang pagtangay (kidnapping) ng mga batang katutubo.”

(It was proven in this court (RTC, Tagum City, Davao Del Norte) that Cong. FRANCE CASTRO of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers Partylist and Cong. SATUR OCAMPO of Bayan Muna Partylist were guilty of kidnapping indigenous minors.)

Sonza’s post has garnered 3,100 reactions and 436 shares as of July 20.

FACT

While Castro and Ocampo were initially charged with kidnapping in 2018, the Tagum RTC Branch 2 found them and 11 others guilty for violating Section 10(a) of Republic Act No. 7610, which covers “acts of child abuse, neglect or exploitation.”

The court sentenced them to four to six years imprisonment.

The case stemmed from an incident on Nov. 28, 2018 when the group of Castro and Ocampo transported at least 14 Lumad students of the Salugpongan schools in Talaingod, Davao Del Norte.

According to the court, the group exposed the minors to security risks when it made the children walk for about three hours in the dark.

“The road from Sitio Dulyan to Sitio Butay, which the accused and the children traversed at night, was secluded, dark, remote and dangerous,” part of the court decision reads.

It added that there was neither a written consent from the children’s parents nor were representatives from law enforcement or government agencies present during the act.

In a joint statement on July 15, Castro and Ocampo described the conviction as “unacceptable and unjust,” saying the court ignored testimonies about cases of harassment experienced by Lumad schools from military and paramilitary forces.

Days after the November 2018 incident, Castro said in a privilege speech at the House of Representatives that they rescued the minors after receiving an “emergency” call from teachers and students of Salugpongan.

The Department of Education suspended at least 55 Salugpongan schools in July 2019 due to alleged ties with leftist groups. Three months later, these schools were permanently closed.

In a July 16 interview on the ABS-CBN News Channel, Castro said they intend to challenge the decision either by filing a motion for reconsideration or a petition to the Court of Appeals.

Editor’s note: This fact check was produced with the help of a journalism student of the University of the Philippines Diliman as part of their internship at VERA Files.