Protest fast to press for the release of NDF consultants to the peace negotiation

Two years ago today, the Aquino government signed the OSLO- Joint Declaration with the NDF providing for, among other things, the release of -most if not all- detained to better facilitate the GPH-NDF formal peace negotiations.

Ramon Patriarca

Until now, the Aquino government has yet to fulfill the commitment, effectively stalling the peace talk’s regular course, and the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reforms (CASER).

Once again, by reneging on yet another of its many commitments, the Aquino government has ensured the prolonged fate of the GPH-NDF peace talks.

Mean while, it continues to violate with impunity the 1998 GRP-NDF Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law ( CARHRIHL), the first substantive document of the GPH- NDF peace talks.

Proof of this is its intensification of Oplan Bayanihan counter revolutionary campaign which has been steadily building up the ranks of among other human rights victims, the unjustly arrested and salvaged, already the KARAPATAN human rights group has documented no less than 430 political prisoner nationwide, of whom 148 has been arrested under the Aquino administration, 129 other activist have been extra judicially killed under this regime oplan bayanihan.

I am holding this protest fast from February 20-26, once again call on the Aquino government to fulfill its commitments it free most if not all of the detained NDF consultants as a matter of obligation relative to the GPH-NDF peace negotiations and our people’s yearning for a just and lasting peace.

(Sgd) Ramon Patriarca

February 19, 2013

 

Release detained peace consultants, resume NDFP-GPH peace talks

Press Release

February 20, 2013

“The Aquino government should refrain from sabotaging the peace process and should immediately release detained peace consultants,” Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan, said as the group staged a picket protest in front of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).  OPAPP is tasked to “oversee, coordinate and integrate the implementation of the comprehensive peace process.”

According to Palabay, the harassment, arrest and detention of peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) through trumped up charges and inclusion in the bounty list of the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) are clear violations of the Joint Agreement on Immunity and Safety Guarantees (JASIG), an agreement signed between the GPH and the NDFP in 1995,” added Palabay.  JASIG was signed by both parties in February 24, 1995.

Meanwhile, detained NDFP consultant Ramon Patriarca today started a protest fast until February 26, 2013. Patriarca is currently detained at the AFP Central Command in Camp Lapu-lapu, Cebu City, where he was transferred from the Cebu Provincial Jail in Danao City. Patriarca has been in jail for four years.

Patriarca, through a statement, said the Aquino government “is effectively stalling the peace talk’s regular course, and the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reforms (CASER). It continues to violate, with impunity, the 1998 GRP-NDF Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).”  CARHRIHL is the first of the four substantive agenda lined up for discussion between the GPH and the NDFP.

Two years ago, the GPH committed to release most, if not all, peace consultants but until now, Palabay said, there are thirteen peace consultants in detention and Patriarca is being detained in a military camp instead of a civilian detention facility. Tirso “Ka Bart” Alcantara was likewise detained for almost two years in a military camp.

Karapatan also pointed out the escalating violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), with the Aquino government’s implementation of Oplan Bayanihan, has resulted to 137 victims of extrajudicial killings, 154 cases of frustrated extrajudicial killings and 498 individual victims of illegal arrests. “The continuing violations and the prevalent impunity clearly sabotage efforts for meaningful advances in the peace process,” said Palabay.

The detained peace consultants are: Alan Jazmines, Tirso Alcantara, Eduardo Serrano, Edgardo Friginal, Eduardo Serrano, Leopoldo Caloza, Emeterio Antalan, Renante Gamara, Jaime Soledad, Danilo Badayos, Pedro Codaste, Alfredo Mapano and Ramon Patriarca.  There are also 11 NDF consultants and staff who remain missing under the Aquino government.

“If there is any ounce of truth in the Philippine government’s statements expressing willingness to purportedly pursue peace, it should walk the talk. It should, first and foremost, facilitate the release of all thirteen peace consultants and all political prisoners,” Palabay said.

Karapatan likewise called on all candidates in the 2013 elections to stand with the people’s call for just and lasting peace and push for the release of detained NDFP consultants and all political prisoners. ###

Reference:    Cristina “Tinay” Palabay, Secretary General, 0917-3162831

              Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580


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Protest fast to press for the release of NDF consultants to the peace negotiation

Ramon Patriarca

Two years ago today, the Aquino government signed the OSLO- Joint Declaration with the NDF providing for, among other things, the release of -most if not all- detained to better facilitate the GPH-NDF formal peace negotiations.

Until now, the Aquino government has yet to fulfill the commitment, effectively stalling the peace talk’s regular course, and the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio Economic Reforms (CASER).

Once again, by reneging on yet another of its many commitments, the Aquino government has ensured the prolonged fate of the GPH-NDF peace talks.

Mean while, it continues to violate with impunity the 1998 GRP-NDF Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law ( CARHRIHL), the first substantive document of the GPH- NDF peace talks.

Proof of this is its intensification of Oplan Bayanihan counter revolutionary campaign which has been steadily building up the ranks of among other human rights victims, the unjustly arrested and salvaged, already the KARAPATAN human rights group has documented no less than 430 political prisoner nationwide, of whom 148 has been arrested under the Aquino administration, 129 other activist have been extra judicially killed under this regime oplan bayanihan.

I am holding this protest fast from February 20-26, once again call on the Aquino government to fulfill its commitments it free most if not all of the detained NDF consultants as a matter of obligation relative to the GPH-NDF peace negotiations and our people’s yearning for a just and lasting peace.

(Sgd) Ramon Patriarca

February 19, 2013

Arrest and detention rampant under the Aquino administration

Delegates of Manilakbayan join families of political prisoners on a protest action in front of Camp Crame on the opening day of Human Rights Week (Dec.01 – Dec. 10, 2012)

News Release

December 1, 2012

 

Political prisoners to fast until December 10

Arrest and detention rampant under the Aquino administration

Rights group SELDA criticized the brazen impunity under the Aquino administration with the increasing number of political prisoners, continued filing of trumped up charges and the brute force inflicted upon so-called enemies of the state.

“The Aquino government may deny the existence of political prisoners but it continues on a rampage with the successive arrest of political prisoners. A total of 123 prisoners of conscience have been arrested under Noynoy Aquino’s regime. Forty-four of them were arrested in this year alone,” said Angelina Ipong, SELDA secretary general. She added that the Aquino government has also denied the release of 14 consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, who are involved in the peace talks with the Philippine government.

Political prisoner Ramon Patriarca, a consultant of the National Democratic Front, begins his hunger strike until December 10 to demand his immediate release or at the least that he should be immediately transferred to a regular civilian detention center. Patriarca is the only political prisoner who remains in a military stockade in the AFP-Central Command in Camp Lapu-lapu, Lahug, Cebu City. “We continue with our demand for their urgent release.”

In a protest action in front of Camp Crame, SELDA, together with relatives of political prisoners made big “peace cranes,” an origami artwork of the bird symbolizing their demand for justice and freedom for all political prisoners.

The human rights organization lambasted the foul schemes of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in identifying its target for arrest and detention. It highlighted the case of Rolly Panesa, a security guard who was mistaken for Benjamin Mendoza, an alleged high-ranking New People’s Army rebel. “By virtue of a mole at the back of Rolly’s neck, military soldiers insisted that they had caught a big fish. This is very dangerous for ordinary folks. A common distinguishing mark between you and a target could mean a drastic change in your life.” Ipong continued.

Rolly Panesa, together with his common-law-wife, Marites Chioco, Marites’ daughter and son-in-law were only on their way home when they were suddenly dragged into waiting vehicles on the street by armed men on October 5, 2012. “Next thing he knew, Rollywas blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten black and blue for the next three days. Now he has the burden of proving that he is not the person his military captors earned P5.6M for.” Ipong protested.

Trumped up charges have likewise continued to be employed in the arrest and detention of human rights defenders and community workers. “The filing of trumped up charges against political prisoners is a common practice of the state and it is used without let-up by the Aquino government to silence its critics, more so that the  military is hungrily running after the hefty rewards of catching its targets.” Ipong declared.

The ex-detainee expressed particular concern over the recent DILG-DND memo containing the list of alleged rebel leaders with a P467-million reward for their capture. “This is a hit-list. The reward is an attractive motivation for interested individuals, especially military personnel, to produce by hook or by crook these rebels, whether or not they are really that person. Moreover, worse things could happen to targets, like being liquidated or disappeared.” Ipong declared. “These actions will definitely not help in pushing for the peace negotiations to proceed.”

“Peace is not part of the Aquino government’s agenda, as it continues to deceive the Filipino people that it is sincere in finding a solution to their economic, social, cultural, civil and political problems. Instead of releasing political prisoners, Aquino is set on arresting and detaining more of its critics with this latest act. But we will continue with our campaign to free all political prisoners,” Ipong concluded.

Political Prisoners in detention centers in Metro Manila and other regions will be staging a one-day fast today, while others will extend theirs until December 10, International Human Rights Day. ###

Reference: Angelina Ipong, SELDA secretary general 0949-9587373

Jigs Clamor, Deputy Secretary General, Karapatan

Mirasol Balaston, wife of missing Felix Balaston and also a victim of forced evacuation, teach delegates of Manilakbayan and relatives of Moro politcal prisoners how to make origami peace cranes

Angie Ipong, Secretary General, SELDA

Delegates of Manilakbayan join families of political prisoners on a protest action in front of Camp Crame on the opening day of Human Rights Week (Dec.01 – Dec. 10, 2012)

Group of ex-political prisoners hit Arroyo bail

Group of ex-political prisoners SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto) condemned the court’s decision to grant bail to former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Pres. Aquino was right, the Philippines is not a joke. Indeed, it’s not a joke to allow electoral saboteurs to be freed, while political dissenters are the ones imprisoned,” SELDA secretary general Angelina Ipong said.

Ipong said that the Aquino government doesn’t the nerve to push through with charges against Arroyo, saying it has always been “a lip service” when it comes to holding the former president accountable.

“This government has no real sense of justice. It cannot even arrest Palparan. Worse, it cannot own up to its own human rights record. In fact, Malacañang has to deny on the existence of political prisoners to claim it is a defender of human rights,” Ipong said.

The group successfully ended the week-long fasting and hunger strike of political prisoners in the country. Almost 700 prisoners nationwide participated in the fasting and hunger strike from July 16-23, and ended on the day of Pres. Aquino’s State of the Nation Address.

Leading the hunger strike and fasting are political prisoners from the Special Intesive Care Area (SICA) at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, National Bilibid Prisons Muntinlupa, Camp Crame, Manila City Jail, Nueva Ecija Provincial Jail, Isabela Provincial Jail, and Aurora Provincial Jail.

In the Visayas, inmates in Calbayog Sub-Provincial Jail, Iloilo City Jail, Danao City Jail in Cebu led the strike. Artist Ericson Acosta, who continuously face charges of illegal possession of explosives, lambasted Malacañang spokesperson Edwin Lacierda’s statement that there are no political prisoners as “a highly ingenious and studies performance which, for all its supposed terseness and indifference, still managed to come across as a perversely powerful warning – that as a matter of state principle, political dissenters shall invariably treated in no other context except in relation to common, even heinous crimes.”

“The unabated incidence over the last couple of years of government critics, activists, and revolutionaries being arbitrarily arrested or abducted, tortured and slapped with fantastic non-bailable criminal charges, attest to how seriously such policy of political persecution has so far been put to actual practice by the present dispensation,” Acosta said in a statement.

Solidarity fasting activities in Danao City Jail, where political prisoner Ramon Patriarca was previously detained. Patriarca is now at the Camp Lapu-Lapu in Cebu, where he continues to protest his illegal detention in the stockade of the AFP-Central Command.

Outside the jails, activists who participated in the solidarity fast in Iloilo City wore the orange prison uniform and acted like political detainees in a make-shift prison jail along Plazoleta Gay in Iloilo City.

In Mindanao, inmates simultaneously held noise barrages alongside their hunger strike, to dramatize their protest, including the Compostela Valley Provincial Rehabilitation Center, Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail, Agusan Sur Provincial Jail.

Ipong said that particularly in Compostela Valley, more than 500 inmates who participated in the hunger strike are non-political prisoners who supported the plight of the political prisoners for their freedom.

“We thank the non-political prisoners who participated in the hunger strike, believing that political prisoners should not be in jail because of their political beliefs,” Ipong said.

SELDA criticized Pres. Aquino of his silence on the plight of the political prisoners or human rights in his SONA, saying that the government is blatantly covering up the existence of political prisoners.

“He has the gall to tell the nation that he is a victim of Martial Law, but repeats the same fault of criminalizing political dissent. That could only mean that Malacañang is really sweeping under the carper the issue of political prisoners,” said Ipong.

The blatant disregard on the plight of political prisoners will not, however, tire them to continue with the call for freedom.

We shall continue to demand for their freedom, and jail those who wronged the people,” Ipong ended. ###

Reference: Angelina Ipong, SELDA secretary general 0949-9587373

Message of Support for the Political Prisoners in their Hunger Strike

The Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights supports the political prisoners who are on protest fast and hunger strike in the Philippines.

Philippine political prisoners through their nationally coordinated week-long fast and hunger strike declare what is wrong with the state of the nation and call out for the release of all political prisoners. Since July 16, prisoners in at least 11 detention centres and jails across the country are drawing national and international attention not just for themselves but for all the 385 political prisoners with their demand for immediate and unconditional release.

Of these political prisoners, 36 are women, 12 are elderly and 43 are sick. 107 of them were arrested under the Aquino government.  Many of those arrested were without warrants and charged with criminal instead of political cases. Thirteen (13) NDFP consultants in the peace negotiations remain in jail despite the Aquino government’s commitment to work on their release. These men and women political prisoners are the living evidences of political repression in spite of the government statement that they do not exist.

The political prisoners who are currently on hunger strike and fast are those at the Medium and Maximum Security in New Bilibid Prisons, Male and female dorm of Special Intensive Care Area at Camp Bagong Diwa, Metro Manila District Jail (Cuerna), Camp Lapu-lapu Central Command in Cebu, Victorias City Jail in Negros Occidental, Iloilo Provincial Integrated Jail (IPIL), Calbayog Jail, Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail, and Isabela Provincial Jail.

Families, human rights advocates and supporters, to show their solidarity, have also gone on solidarity fast and picketed the military camps. At the Compostela Valley Provincial Rehabilitation Center, 500 inmates have joined the hunger strike in sympathy with the political prisoners in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

We continue to be inspired with the strong determination and commitment of the political prisoners to assert their just demands. To protest when one is already in prison is to affirm the moral position that the arrest and continued detention is unjust and hence, to struggle for freedom is morally right and just.

Iron bars do not a prison make. As workers, peasants and urban poor and other sectors march on the streets today and meet up with other people’s organizations from Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon  on Commonwealth Avenue to hold the people’s State of the Nation (SONA), they are joined by political prisoners whose voices and calls for freedom are carried out beyond the prison walls.

We will continue to demand the release of political prisoners in the Philippines.

FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!

 

The Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights

Vancouver, BC Canada
23 July 2012

Protestant bishops echo political detainees call for freedom

News Release

July 21, 2012

Eight Bishops from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) expressed support to the ongoing hunger strike/fasting of political prisoners. In a statement, the Bishops urged Pres. Noynoy Aquino “to consider the plight of political detainees under his administration and their call for a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.”

The hunger strike/fasting which started last July 16 is on its fifth day. On July 19, some 18 political prisoners in Metro Manila, Agusan del Sur, Cebu and Tagum City heightened their action by going  on hunger strike to highlight the call for their release. Five hundred (500) inmates at the Compostela Valley Provincial Rehabilitation Center joined the political prisoners in sympathy. Political prisoners in 10 jails throughout the country have joined the hunger strike/fast.  

The UCCP Bishops said they are “compelled to amplify” the on-going hunger strike of political prisoners in the “face of such callous dismissal by the Aquino Administration”, referring to the earlier pronouncement of Malacañang that “there are no political prisoners” in the country. 

They also called for the release the 14 National Democratic Front (NDF) peace consultants who are covered by the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and NDF Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).   “As Church advocates committed to the peace process, we view such action as a significant step in bringing forward and revitalizing the GPH-NDFP peace talks.” 

In a separate statement, NDF peace consultant Ramon Patriarca criticized the Aquino government because “it has not done enough to comply with its commitments in the many bilateral agreements it forged with the NDF.  One cannot but suspect that the June 15 Oslo initiative was meant only as another ‘pogi point’ for the president’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) or, as a mere posturing preparatory to ending altogether the GPH-NDF peace negotiations consistent with his Oplan Bayanihan counter-revolutionary program.” Patriarca is a political prisoner at the Camp Lapu-Lapu, AFP Central Command headquarters in Lahug, Cebu City. He is among the political prisoners who are on hunger strike. 

The UCCP Bishops who signed the statement of support were: Bishops Reuel Norman O. Marigza, General Secretary of the UCCP, Elorde M. Sambat, North Luzon Jurisdictional Area, Roel P. Mendoza, Middle Luzon Jurisdictional Area, Arturo R. Asi, South Luzon Jurisdictional Area, Jaime M. Moriles, West Visayas Juridictional Area, Dulce Pia-Rose, East Visayas Jurisdictional Area, Melzar D. Labuntog, Northwest Mindanao Jurisdictional Area, Modesto D. Villasanta, Southeast Mindanao Jurisdictional Area. ###

Reference:    Cristina “Tinay” Palabay, Spokesperson, 0917-5003879
              Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580

Statement of Ramon Patriarca re Joining of a Nationally-Coordinated Activity

STATEMENT OF RAMON PATRIARCA RE JOINING OF A NATIONALLY-COORDINATED FASTING ACTIVITY ON JULY 16, 2012

This Monday, (July 16, 2012), I am joining more than 360 of my fellow political prisoners all over the country in a nationally-coordinated fast to once again call on the Aquino Government to release all political prisoners through a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.

Ramon Patriarca

This should also remind the Aquino Government of its commitment to free all political prisoners in accordance with Part III, Article G of the GPH-NDF Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), which states that the government ‘shall abide by its doctrine laid down in People vs. Hernandez (99 Phils. 515, July 18, 1956), as further elaborated in People vs Geronimo (100 Phils. 90, October 13, 1956), and shall forthwith review the cases of all political prisoners or detainees who have been charged, detained or convicted contrary to this doctrine, and shall immediately release them’.

The Aquino Government’s treatment of political prisoners has been dismal.  It has refused to fulfill its promise in December 2010 to start the process of freeing all political prisoners by conducting a ‘thorough review’ of the circumstances and cases of political prisoners.  Worse, even without conducting the said review, it declared in September last year that there are no more political prisoners in the country.  Yet, it continues to persecute the likes of detained NDF Consultant Alan Jasminez, who was treacherously transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City last June 29 for exposing the poor jail conditions and the illegal activities of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the Camp Crame Custodial Center.

This is why the GPH-NDF Joint Statement issued from Oslo, Norway last June 15 offers not much hope.  The  GPH has simply not done enough to comply with its commitments in the many bilateral agreements it forged with the NDF.  One cannot but suspect that the June 15 Oslo initiative was meant only as another ‘pogi point’ for the president’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) next week, or, as a mere posturing preparatory to ending altogether the GPH-NDF peace negotiations consistent with his Oplan Bayanihan counter-revolutionary program.

I therefore add my voice to the clamor of political prisoners and human rights advocates here and abroad to improve the human rights situation and advance the cause of just and lasting peace in the country through the following steps of the Aquino Government :

1. Process the release of all political prisoners towards a general, unconditional, and omnibus amnesty proclamation, consistent with the GPH-NDF CARHRIHL and the Hernandez Political Offense Doctrine.
2. Immediately release on humanitarian grounds some 60 political prisoners who have been sickly for sometime now due to deplorable jail conditions.
3. Immediately release Alan Jasminez, Tirso Alcantara and 12 other NDF consultants/personnel whose continued detention violate the GPH-NDF Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG)
4. Surface abducted-and-disappeared NDF consultants/personnel Leo Velasco, Prudencio Calubid and Rogelio Calubad.
5. Appropriately punish human rights violators ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, ex-General Jovito Palparan, and their murderous gang.
6. Resume the GPH-NDF peace negotiations based on past bilateral agreements, and focused on the draft GPH-NDF Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

SGD. Ramon Patriarca

Political Prisoner

Camp Lapu-Lapu

AFP Central Command Headquarters

Lahug, Cebu City

July 13, 2012

Alan Jazmines stealthily transferred to Bicutan jail without notice and valid reason—Karapatan

Two years of Aquino Presidency: Increasing repression of political prisoners

Alan Jazmines stealthily  transferred to Bicutan jail without notice and valid reason—Karapatan

Government authorities should immediately explain the sudden, stealthy transfer of political prisoner Alan Jazmines from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan early this morning of June 29.

Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of Karapatan slammed the move “because it reeks of treachery. Alan Jazmines was not even allowed to call his legal counsel and the Custodial Center has not provided any reason for the haste in Jasmines’s transfer.”

“The chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) should likewise answer for the PNP’s action. We learned that she was with Supt. Cesar Magsino, chief of the PNP Custodial Center, when Jazmines was transported to Bicutan. The CHR chairperson could have at the very least facilitated Jazmines’s request to talk to his lawyers,” added Hilao-Enriquez.

Earlier, Karapatan submitted to CHR complaints on the ill-treatment and increasing restrictions of political prisoners at the PNP Custodial Center and at the Fort Bonifacio Headquarters, PA Custodial Center, 191^stMPBn., HHSG, PA where Tirso Alcantara, another NDF consultant, remains in solitary confinement for over a year and a half already, in complete violation of RA 7438, the law that supposedly enumerates the rights of a detained, accused person.

Alan Jasminez is among the 14 peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) currently detained in various jails in the country, whose releases are being sought for by the NDFP Panel.  Ramon Patriarca, another NDFP detained consultant in Cebu experienced a similar treatment.  On January 25, 2012 he was, without notice, taken straight to a military stockade in the AFP-Central Command in Camp Lapu-Lapu, Lahug, Cebu City after attending a hearing and did not even have time to pack his things.

In the past, several attempts were made to isolate Alan Jazmines from his co-detainees in Camp Crame.  Jazmines recently figured in the news when he wrote a letter to the Department of Justice, CHR and Karapatan saying that “The FBI maintains an office inside the detention center itself and in a unit in a nearby condominium…”

Hilao-Enriquez said that “the pattern of repression of political prisoners is becoming evident as shown in the case of Jazmines, Alcantara and Patriarca. For two years, Aquino has not lifted a finger to act positively on the situation of the political prisoners who are unjustly detained. He has instead allowed the plight of the political prisoners to worsen, to the point of even betraying and forgetting his own father’s sufferings in jail.” ###

Reference:    Marie Hilao Enriquez, Chairperson, 0917-5616800
              Angge Santos, Media Liaison, 0918-9790580

Political prisoner in Cebu begins indefinite hunger strike today

Press Release

June 1, 2012

Prolonged stay at military stockade

Political prisoner in Cebu begins indefinite hunger strike today

CEBU CITY – A political prisoner began his indefinite hunger strike on June 1 in protest of his detention at Camp Lapu-Lapu in Cebu City, four months after a court decision directing the Cebu Provincial and Detention Center to allow his stay in the civilian detention facility.

Ramon Patriarca, a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) charged with rebellion and formerly detained at Danao City Jail was transferred to the Cebu Provincial Detention Reformatory Center (CPDRC).

“Bending the rules of court- this is how former political detainees described the transfer of Patriarca to the AFP Central Command, Camp Lapu-lapu in Cebu City.” Angelina Ipong, SELDA secretary general said.

Patriarca, who has been imprisoned for more than three years now, lamented in a letter how he does not deserve to be detained at Camp Lapu-Lapu.

“I do not deserve to be detained at Camp Lapu-lapu.  Among other reasons, this was where I was first brought after I was abducted more than three years ago, where I was subjected to torture and human rights violations before I was finally turned over to the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO),” Patriarca’s letter stated.

To show their sympathy in Patriarca’s demands and call for the release of all political prisoners, 18 if his former co-detainees, one of which is a political prisoner at Danao City Jail will also make a sympathy fast on June 9-11 in support of Patriarca, just before the nation commemorates “Araw ng Kalayaan.”

“This is their way of supporting his legitimate demands, and also their way of thanking their former elected over-all leader in jail whom they trusted so much especially because he instituted many commendable changes in jail especially the Alternative Learning School where everyone who attended was able to graduate and many passed the exams,” SELDA secretary general Angelina Ipong said.

SELDA said it will continue the call for Ramon Patriarca’s immediate release and the release of all political prisoners in the country through a general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty.###

Reference:
Angelina Ipong, SELDA secretary general, 0949-9587373