The United Methodist Church (UMC) announced the successive dismissal of trumped-up charges against one of its clergy.
Branch 43 of the Oriental Mindoro Regional Trial Court ruled Rev. Glofie Baluntong innocent of the charge of attempted murder last December 8, UMC said.
The decision followed the dismissal by public prosecutors last October 6 of another complaint of violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, it added.
“We welcome with gratitude and praise to God the dismissal of the fabricated attempted murder case against Rev. Glofie,” the Church said.
UMC said it condemns the lies of the soldier who alleged the pastor was among the New People’s Army fighters who wounded him in a clash in March 2021.
Baluntong maintained in various forums she was giving necrological services to a UMC member in a different location during the said armed encounter.
In its decision, the Court said the complainant failed to prove through medico-legal means that he sustained a gunshot wound at the clash.
It also pointed out that the clergywoman was only named as an accused because she was listed in a government “Order of Battle.”
READ: Methodist pastor tells UN of PH government harassment using anti-terror law
A prominent Filipina clergywoman, Baluntong was a former UMC District Superintendent who was forced to leave Mindoro due to harassment and persecution from State armed forces.
She earned the military’s ire for consistently offering her church as sanctuary to Indigenous Mangyan communities resisting mining and land-grabbing in Mindoro.
UMC demanded that the government stop filing trumped up charges against persons and groups, including church people who espouse peace, human rights and environmental justice.
The Church also said the anti-terror law must be annulled and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict abolished as they are only used to persecute government critics.
UMC also called for the resumption of formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) to resolve the roots of the armed conflict in the county. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
