As expected, the court freed the Tagaytay 5 after finding the rebellion charges without merit and spurious.

I am so very happy for the family of poet and activist Alex Pinpin, one of the five who were abducted, jailed and falsely charged, and also for the others. I mention Alex because I’ve met his sister Cyrine and saw in her eyes the pain of losing her brother to political vendetta. But now, Cyrine is happy and could only express her profound and sincere thanks to everyone who made the freedom of the Tagaytay 5 possible.

Incidentally, a court in Nueva Ecija earlier dismissed similar trumped-up charges against Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and several other progressive legislators. Their collective fault is that they fought and continue to fight the Arroyo administration.

How the media will treat these news events is everyone’s guess. The introduction by the administration of their false charges were nothing short of a spectacle. The regime really wanted to smear and shame progressives, and I think they succeeded to a certain extent. But when the false charges are exposed for what they truly are — fakes — there seems to be no interest in the media.

The co-called political bloggers don’t care either perhaps because Alex, Ka Satur and the other “lefties” believe they had it coming — which is sad.

Anyway, now is a time to celebrate this hard-won freedom over the tyranny of trumped-up charges. Tomorrow, expect the Tagaytay 5 to resume their noble and honest work of giving their best to the people they have sworn to serve — even to the extent of enduring the temporary shame of unjust and arbitrary arrest and detention.