EAGLE EYES – Tony La Viña
3 October 2025, The Manila Standard
On September 22, 2025, after more than seven years in detention, Myles Albasin and five co-accused, collectively known as the Mabinay 6, were acquitted by the Regional Trial Court Branch 42 in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, citing inconsistent testimony, mishandled evidence, and the absence of civilian witnesses.
For Albasin, a former University of the Philippines Cebu student leader and activist, the acquittal was vindication. But it came at a terrible price: more than seven years of her youth were lost to incarceration for crimes she did not commit.
That delay, and the state’s reliance on weak and fabricated charges, made her case a travesty of justice.
The state alleged that the six were New People’s Army rebels arrested after a firefight. Yet the prosecution’s witnesses were limited to military and police officers whose accounts conflicted.
No civilian witness could attest to seeing the accused fire weapons. Forensic tests found no gunpowder residue on the accused. Chain of custody rules for seized firearms and explosives were not followed.
The court concluded that guilt had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Despite this, the accused were jailed from 2018 until their acquittal in 2025.
Bail was denied early on, since charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives are non-bailable. In practice, detention itself became punishment without conviction.
The denial of bail to the Mabinay 6 exposed how criminal law can be turned into a tool of political persecution.
The Philippine Constitution guarantees the right to a speedy trial, yet the Mabinay 6 spent over seven years waiting for vindication.
The acquittal of Myles Albasin is not the end of the story. It should be a beginning for reform.
For example, we must change our rules on bail.
The blanket rule that charges involving firearms and explosives are automatically non-bailable is prone to abuse.
There should be maximum periods for pretrial detention, after which detainees must be released on bail.
Police and military officers involved in planting evidence, violating chain of custody rules, or fabricating charges must face administrative and criminal liability.
Judicial reforms must enforce strict timelines for hearings, and weak cases should be dismissed early rather than dragging on for years.
Moreover, this case should never have been pursued and brought to trial. State resources were wasted on an unwinnable prosecution.
On a personal note, my law firm La Viña Zarate and Associates (LVZ) is honored to have defended Myles.
My colleague Attorney Jayvy Gamboa was the lead lawyer, assisted by paralegals Bryce King and Cherome Sison.
Atty Kaloi Zarate and Thea Uyguanco also helped.
In this case, we were happy to collaborate with Attorneys Teddy Rigoroso and Tim Calumpong, who brought their experience to the defense team, making us a formidable group that produced the good outcome of the trial.
Teddy is a legal genius and the best lawyer principled people can find, while Tim, my classmate in UP Law, gave us insights on the Dumaguete legal scene.
We also benefited from the advice of Professor Dan Calica, the best criminal law expert in the country.
We collaborated with the brilliant Attorney Kristian Lora, the counsel for the other defendants. Kristian is from the Cebu Chapter of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
In the earlier stages of the case, I collaborated with other lawyers from NUPL Cebu and with Attorney Ben Ramos of NUPL Negros Occidental. Ben was assassinated while this case was pending.
We are grateful to Regional Trial Court Judge Marie Rose Inocando-Paras. She was consistently fair in the proceedings, upholding the rule of law all the way to the end of the case.
The acquittal of Mabinay 6 is a relief, but it cannot undo the years of unjust detention they endured.
I must say though that Myles has become stronger as a person and more committed to social change after seven years, six months, and 28 days in unjust detention.
She still plans to go to law school and will be working with LVZ and the Klima Center of Manila Observatory.
The unconditional love and support of her parents Grace and Lloyd, sister Marley, other relatives, and friends was crucial.
Nevertheless, the Mabinay 6 case shows how easily criminal law can be weaponized against activists and how a rigid bail system can turn pretrial detention into punishment.
If the Philippines is to honor its democratic values, reforms must ensure that bail protects liberty rather than denies it, that trials are swift and fair, and that no activist spends years in jail on the basis of fabricated charges.
This is the ultimate vindication for Myles and her companions.
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Originally posted at: The vindication of Myles Albasin – Manila Standard