For Hector Kiamzon, 31, a farmer from Silang, Cavite, joining the Lakbayan (People’s March) is part of his continuing struggle for land.

“The farmers of Southern Tagalog have been dislocated because of land-use conversion and land grabbing,” Kiamzon said in Filipino in an interview with Bulatlat. He cited the Metro Taal-Tagaytay Development Project (MTTDP) that will deprive livelihood for thousands of farmers and fisherfolk in five towns in Cavite and 11 towns in Batangas and the Coastal Road Project 2 which will cover the 2nd district of Cavite, threatening to displace 50,000 farmers and 20,000 fisherfolk. Full article

This was one of the revelations that came out in today’s CHR hearing of Roxas’s abduction and torture.

Testifying before an en banc CHR, Roxas recalled the incident on May 19 in Barangay Bagong Sikat, La Paz, Tarlac, and reiterated the content of the affidavit she earlier submitted to the Supreme Court.

Roxas also revealed that the beatings “became less” when she told her captors that she is an American citizen.

(Click here for more stories and multimedia content on Melissa Roxas.)

In the same hearing, military officials denied that elements from the Army’s 7th Infantry Division based in Fort Magsaysay had a hand in Roxas’s abduction and torture.

Roxas recalled that on May 19, while watching television, at least 15 men with long firearms barged into the house where Roxas and her two companions, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward, were staying. The three were dragged into a blue van, handcuffed, blindfolded then brought to a place that took more than hour to reach.

(Click here for more stories and multimedia content on torture in the Philippines.)

Asked by the commissioners about the place of her detention, Roxas said she heard the sound of planes landing and taking off, shots coming from what sounded like firing ranges and noise from a construction site. She also heard vehicles passing by, she said.

Later, CHR chairperson Leila de Lima told the military officials in the hearing that a CHR team that conducted a surprise visit to Fort Magsaysay on June 10 “saw an airstrip, four firing ranges and a building under construction.”

“We vehemently deny the accusations against us,” said Col. Leonido Bongcawil, who represented Major Gen. Ralph Villanueva, commanding officer of the 7th Infantry Division, at the hearing.

Lt. Col. Herminio Barrios, legal counsel of the 7th ID, said there is no evidence pointing to military men as responsible for Roxas’s fate. He said travel from La Paz, Tarlac, to Fort Magsaysay takes about 30 minutes.

Bongcawil pointed out that that there are 19 more airfields near La Paz, Tarlac.

Bongcawil said it was unfair of Roxas to say that she was held in Fort Magsaysay. “Fort Magsaysay is a tourist destination,” Bongcawil said.
To this, de Lima asked: “If it were a tourist destination, how come we were held 40 minutes [before being allowed to enter]?” Bongcawil said it was part of their “standard operating procedure.”

De Lima said they were not allowed access to some parts of the camp during their inspection.

“Will you allow us unhampered access if we decide to go back to Fort Magsaysay?” de Lima asked Bongcawil. The military officer replied that it’s up to their commanding officer.

But Barrios butted in, saying that such a visit by the CHR will require approval from the AFP chief of staff.  Full article

This is the question foremost in the mind of the relatives and colleagues of Elizabeth Principe, who remains detained at Camp Crame a week after her release had been ordered by the Regional Trial Court Branch 30 in Nueva Vizcaya. On July 6, the court dismissed the robbery with murder case — the last of six charges filed against Principe– for lack of probable cause.

All other cases against Principle that were filed in Cauayan, Isabela; Dupax, Nueva Vizcaya and Candon, Ilocos Sur were earlier dismissed, according to the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda).

Principe, a health worker in Cagayan Valley and consultant for the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), was abducted by five elements of the Military Intelligence Group on Nov. 28, 2007 in Cubao, Quezon City. For three days, she was handcuffed, blindfolded, heavily interrogated and kept incommunicado. She was presented to the media as a high-ranking member of the New People’s Army (NPA) before being transferred to Camp Crame, the police headquarters. Full article

Raymundo has been teaching at the university for 10 years, starting out as a lecturer in 1999 in the Department of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP). In February last year, she submitted an application for tenure to the tenured faculty of the sociology department through then chairperson Dr. Clemen Aquino.

More than a year since then, and after her contract expired on May 31 this year, Raymundo was told her application was still under review. In response to her lengthy letter inquiring about her application for tenure, UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao responded with a short letter informing her that a decision had yet to be made. Full article

Last week, an improvised explosive device exploded outside the Office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City. No one was hurt. The next day, bombs were found at the Department of Agriculture compound and outside a condominium on Katipunan Avenue, also in Quezon City.

On Sunday, a powerful blast ripped through a store across the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City. Six were reported killed and 30 injured. Full article

Obito Marquez, 31, a peasant activist from Occidental Mindoro, was taken just outside his house at the Maharlika Village in Taguig City at around 10 p.m. on June 21 by four armed men in civilian clothes. According to witnesses, Marquez was forced inside a beige Toyota Innova. The other abductors rode a white Nissan Sentra sedan.

The next morning, Marquez’s wife discovered one of his slippers outside their home while looking for him. Only then did she realize that her husband was missing.

Marquez is just one of the recent cases of abductions of activists in the Philippines, where many activists have been abducted, tortured and killed by state security forces.

Marquez was one of the 72 activists from Southern Tagalog who were charged with murder in connection with a New People’s Army raid in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, a charge that the activists had denied.

In February this year, however, the case was dismissed on technical grounds.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said elements from the Philippine National Police in Southern Tagalog were responsible for Marquez’s abduction.

Members of Karapatan organized a quick reaction team to search for Marquez. On July 2, Marquez’s family and Karapatan staff saw Marquez’s name on the list of detainees at Camp Crame, the general headquarters of the PNP. They were, however, not allowed to see Marquez.

The next day, lawyer Rex Fernandez, legal counsel of Karapatan, went to Camp Crame to visit Marquez. Fernandez told Bulatlat that Marquez was tortured, blindfolded for four days and handcuffed.

“He said no warrant was shown to him when he was arrested. He was denied access to his family and to legal counsel. He was made to sign and thumb mark documents under duress,” Fernandez said.

The human-rights lawyer added that the authorities have not informed them of any pending case against Marquez.

Fernandez said Marquez was taken to two other places before he was brought to Camp Crame. “He was interrogated and was being made to admit that he is a member of the New People’s Army,” Fernandez said.

In an interview with Bulatlat, Ghay Portajada, secretary-general of Desaparecidos, said that while they were happy to see Marquez alive, they denounce the violation of Marquez’s rights.

Marquez’s father Ernesto called on the authorities to release his son. “He did not commit any crime. He just wants to help our fellow farmers,” Ernesto said.

In a statement, the KMP said the Arroyo government has “a huge blood debt to the peasantry” for implementing its counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom Watch) 1 and 2.

The counter-insurgency program, the KMP deemed, is characterized by extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and arrest and detention of members and leaders of people’s organizations.

Antonio Flores, convenor of Tanggol Magsasaka (Defend Peasants) and spokesman of the KMP, said 553 or more than half of the total victims of extrajudicial killings under the Arroyo regime were peasants. According to Karapatan, more than a thousand activists have been killed since 2001, still a thousand more were tortured and more than 200 have disappeared.

Flores cited the killing of Fermin Lorico of Kaugmaon (KMP Negros Oriental) who was killed on June 10 after attending an anti-charter change rally in Dumaguete; the killing of Eddie Gumanoy of Kasama-TK and Renato Pacaide of KMP Far Southern Mindanao Region, the enforced disappearance of Nilo Arado of KMP Panay and the continuing detention of Randall Echanis, KMP deputy secretary general for external affairs.

“This is the legacy of the Arroyo government, almost a decade of being in a dark age for human rights in the country. All democratic forces and groups and those concerned for human rights should work together to call for justice and force the Arroyo government to answer for her bloody and deadly rule over the people,” Flores said. (Bulatlat.com)

Rodinas, 35, a lay worker and member of the Protestant church United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP), was arrested by a police team in Tangub City early morning on Monday. His wife, Deana Febra, said Rodinas could not be found since Monday night.

The Promotion of Church People’s Response, group of religious and lay workers that is monitoring cases of human-rights violations against members of the clergy, had earlier said Rodinas had not been accounted for as late as Wednesday night.

In a phone interview with Bulatlat, Febra said her husband was manhandled by his captors and was forced to answer questions even as he invoked his right to remain silent.

Febra said that on Tuesday, around 3 p.m., she saw her husband on board a pick-up truck with license plates RSA 717 parked in front of the Regional Trial Court in Tangub City.

Febra and members of the quick reaction team organized by the UCCP were then at the Philippine National Police (PNP) station looking for Rodinas. The PNP station and the RTC were adjacent.

“I asserted my right to see him,” Febra told Bulatlat. She said soldiers of the 55th Infantry Battalion (IB) were all over the place. She was able to talk to her husband briefly.

Febra said Lt. Col Raymundo Acorda and Police Inspector Alwin Baclao of the Provincial Regional Mobile Unit (PRMU) were the ones who brought her husband to the RTC.  At that time, Febra said the charges filed against her husband were not clear.

Rodinas was sent back to the 55th IB headquarters in Langub, Calamba town in Misamis Occidental. “They told me my husband was under military custody,” Febra said.

The next day, Rodinas was brought to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Tangub City. Febra later learned that her husband was being charged with illegal possession of explosives.

From the BJMP in Tangub, Rodinas was transferred to BJMP in Ozamiz City. But the officer in charge in Ozamiz City refused to accept Rodinas due to the absence of papers from BJMP Tangub. Later that day, Rodinas was brought back to BJMP in Tangub City.

“The military considers him a high-risk detainee,” Febra said, explaining the attempt to transfer Rodinas to Ozamiz City.

Violations

Febra decried the violations on the rights of her husband.

“It was a warrantless arrest,” she said. Rodinas was arrested at a checkpoint in Villaba, Tangub City, at around 6 a.m. on Monday.

“The military turned him over to the PNP only after more than 36 hours,” Febra pointed out.

“He was mentally tortured. He was deprived of sleep. Even as he asserted his right to remain silent, he was forced by his handlers to answer questions. He was also beaten by military personnel,” Febra said.

False Accusations

The 55th IB claimed that Rodinas is a leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Western Mindanao.

In a report by The Mindanao Examiner, Lt. Steffani Cacho, a regional army spokeswoman, said Rodinas was captured during a combat operation launched by the Army’s 55th IB and the 10th Regional Mobile Group of the Philippine National Police.

Cacho said they recovered components for explosives, a laptop, five units of cellular phones, a Palmtop and subversive documents from Rodinas. Cacho claimed Rodinas was also behind several murders in the province.

Febra denied the accusations against her husband. “It’s not true. The explosive compound allegedly found was planted.”

A certification from UCCP’s Bishop Constante Claro of the Southern Mindanao Jurisdiction states that Rodinas, also a son of a UCCP pastor, was involved in the program on ecology and environment protection of the different churches in Mindanao from April 1998 to May 2001.

Febra said Rodinas continues to serve as a staff of the said program under the National Churches of Christ in the Philippines (NCCP).

Febra called on the authorities to release her husband. “He is innocent,” she said. (Bulatlat.com)

A day after Melissa Roxas recounted her ordeal in the hands of her captors, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) reiterated the government’s claim that the abduction and torture of Roxas had been “stage-managed.”

Roxas, a 31-year-old American of Filipino descent, and her two companions — Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Jandoc — were abducted May 19 by suspected military men in La Paz, Tarlac. Roxas was surfaced six days later. Through Karapatan legal counsel Rex Fernandez, Roxas filed a petition for writ of amparo before the Supreme Court a day after she went back to the United States.

Respondents to the writ of amparo include President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Victor Ibrado, Philippine National Police Director Gen. Jesus Versoza and Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, commanding general of the Philippine Army.

Regime Insists Roxas Torture Fabricated; Victim Might Testify in Philippines

Ever since Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas filed a petition for writ of amparo before the Supreme Court accusing military men of abducting and torturing her, the public has never heard from her two Filipinos companions, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Jandoc.

The three were abducted by suspected military agents on May 19 in La Paz, Tarlac. Roxas was released on May 25 and soon went back to the United States to reunite with her family and seek medical treatment.

But whatever happened to Carabeo and Jandoc?

In a press conference Sunday in Los Angeles, California, Roxas said she still fears for the safety of the two men. “I live with that fear each day,” she said. She said she, too, has not heard of any news about them.

Based on Roxas’s affidavit, the three were conducting a survey in the village for a future medical mission when the abduction happened.

Roxas’s lawyer, Rex Fernandez, told the Court of Appeals (CA) hearing the write of amparo petition that Carabeo and Jandoc had opted to remain silent.

Released

In an interview with Bulatlat, Sister Cecil Ruiz, chairperson of Karapatan in Central Luzon, said she was able to interview Carabeo a day after he was released by their captors.

“His relatives informed me that he was released on the night of the same day that Melissa was freed,” Sister Ruiz said.

Ruiz and some human-rights volunteers in Tarlac were the first to look for Roxas, Carabeo and Jandoc. Carabeo’s sister Luz and his niece sought Sister Ruiz to help them find Carabeo. The human-rights workers went to the place of the incident; the barangay (village) captain confirmed that the abduction had indeed taken place.

Sister Ruiz and her colleagues went to the Philippine National Police (PNP) office in La Paz and got a copy of the report of the incident. Later that day, they went to all military camps in Tarlac in search of the three missing.

On the night of May 25, the same day that Roxas was freed, Sister Ruiz said she received a message from Carabeo’s relatives that Carabeo had come back home. She went to see Carabeo the next day.

Tortured

“He told me what their abductors did to them,” Sister Ruiz said. “He said they were blindfolded and tortured for six days.”

Asked what kind of torture Carabeo was subjected to, Sister Ruiz said that like Roxas, the torture method applied on Carabeo was asphyxiation. Two plastic bags were used to cover his head while his arms and legs were being stretched out by the abductors.

“He was also heavily interrogated. His captors wanted him to admit that he is a member of the New People’s Army. He was beaten repeatedly,” Sister Ruiz said. Carabeo later complained of pain in the stomach.

He also told Sister Ruiz that he was handcuffed. Sister Ruiz said Carabeo’s wrists had abrasion marks when she saw him. He never sought medical treatment though.

“His relatives want him to remain silent about the incident. They told me that nothing would happen anyway even if they would file complaints against Carabeo’s torturers,” Sister Ruiz said.

Asked about Jandoc, Sister Ruiz said a relative of Jandoc in Aurora province sent a text message to Sister Ruiz’s colleague in Aurora that Jandoc had also been freed.

“We were informed that he is now staying with his uncle,” Sister Ruiz said. The human rights leader said she did not have the chance to talk with Jandoc. “I am told that Jandoc’s relatives do not want to speak on the incident, too,” Ruiz told Bulatlat.

MANILA – Human-rights group slammed on Friday the continuing practice of torture by state security forces in the Philippines as the world commemorates the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Karapatan, the human-rights group, led a picket protest in front of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) compound in Quezon City this morning.

“We join the world in condemning torture. We remember the sufferings inflicted on our friends Melissa [Roxas], UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, farmers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo and many others,” said Renato M. Reyes Jr., the secretary-general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, one of the groups that protested.

The Arroyo regime, Reyes said, “is responsible for these atrocities through its counter-insurgency program that targets even unarmed activists.”

Roxas, a 31-year-old Filipino-American, was allegedly abducted and tortured by suspected elements of the Philippine military last May.

‘Philippine Military Has Its Own Abu Ghraib’