THE United Methodist Church (UMC) said the dismissal of criminal cases against Methodist pastor Rev. Glofie G. Baluntong has laid bare what it described as a pattern of harassment against church workers critical of government policies.
In a statement, the UMC welcomed the Dec. 8, 2025 ruling of Branch 43 of the Regional Trial Court in Oriental Mindoro, acquitting Baluntong of attempted murder, saying it followed an earlier setback for prosecutors after a terror-tagging complaint against her was junked for lack of evidence.
The church said public prosecutors had already dismissed on Oct. 6, 2022 a complaint accusing Baluntong of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, citing insufficient proof to sustain the charge.
“This series of dismissals affirms what we have long maintained—that these cases were fabricated and meant to harass,” the UMC said, calling the rulings a vindication after years of legal and security pressure on the clergywoman.
The attempted murder charge arose from a soldier’s claim that Baluntong was among New People’s Army fighters who wounded him during a March 2021 clash.
Baluntong denied the allegation, saying she was officiating a necrological service at a different location at the time.
In its decision, the court noted the absence of medico-legal evidence showing the complainant suffered a gunshot wound and found that Baluntong was implicated mainly because her name appeared in a government “order of battle.”
Baluntong, a former UMC district superintendent, later left Mindoro after what the church described as sustained harassment by state forces.
The UMC said she had been targeted for providing sanctuary to Indigenous Mangyan communities resisting mining and land-grabbing.
The church renewed calls for an end to what it termed trumped-up cases against clergy and activists, urging the repeal of the Anti-Terrorism Law, the dismantling of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and the resumption of peace talks to address the roots of armed conflict.
