For the third time, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) lost its case against teacher Ronnel Mas, whom the bureau had sued for inciting to sedition over his alleged tweet in 2020, offering a reward to kill President Rodrigo Duterte.

Acting on a motion for reconsideration, Zambales prosecutor JT Leonardo Santos junked the complaint once again, saying the NBI still failed to prove it was Mas who posted the tweet.

“Indeed, such seditious remarks must not go unpunished. The NBI must be commended in its efforts to contribute [to] the peace and stability of our country. However, the rules on evidence in establishing probable cause must be upheld,” said Santos, who added in his June 22 resolution that the NBI could always re-file.

“I hope they accept defeat and they should already stop harassing Teacher Ronnel. I urge them to observe the rule of law and to move on. They should allow a simple person like Teacher Ronnel to continue living his life in peace,” said Dino de Leon of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), Mas’ lawyer.

Still no evidence

The NBI earlier lost in court, when a judge ruled as inadmissible Mas’ extrajudicial confession to reporters who interviewed him during NBI’s traditional perp walk.

NBI refiled the complaint, but the same prosecutor dismissed it in February saying the evidence was lacking. There was no e-forensic, no tracing of IP addresses, to prove that Mas indeed posted the tweet, Santos noted in his first resolution.

Filing a motion for reconsideration, the NBI submitted a CD containing the video of Mas’ confession, as well as an affidavit by the NBI’s regional agent who was with Mas after the teacher’s warrantless arrest. Inside a van with no lawyer present, the agent, Ronald Allan Sison, also extracted a similar confession.

Prosecutor Santos said the CD and its contents were not authenticated.

“Instead of filing anew with sufficient evidence, the complainant seeks to shortcut the proceedings by introducing new evidence,” said Santos, adding that introducing new evidence in a motion for reconsideration “is not proper.”

“To be clear, it is not that a crime has not been committed that the case has been dismissed. It is the insufficiency of evidence to prove that indeed the respondent is the perpetrator of the crime, i.e. he owns the Twitter account and that he is the one who posted it,” said Santos.

Mas was among the several people sued for inciting to sedition during the peak of the pandemic in 2020, when the NBI and police hunted down people who criticized the government, done under covers of legal provisions that punish supposed false information.

The NBI also sent subpoenas to several people nationwide on the request of Duterte’s close aide, Senator Bong Go.

Authorities have used inciting to sedition, and conspiracy to commit sedition, against critics, including two Catholic priests on trial for an alleged plot to oust Duterte.

In Mas’ case, Santos told the NBI not to undermine the duty of prosecutors.

“This office is not a rubber stamp where it is ministerial duty to file cases in court, especially where an agency of the government is the complainant. This Office is tasked with an important duty to uphold the law and respect the constitutional rights of any person who stands to be prosecuted for a crime,” said Santos. – Rappler.com