Series of arrests and abduction precedes Aquino’s 4th SONA—Karapatan

News Release

18 July 2013

 

Karapatan, through its chairperson Marie-Hilao Enriquez, raised alarm on the spate of arrests involving a former political prisoner and a farmer and the abduction and disappearance of another farmer and a tricycle driver in less than a week. “Will Pres. Aquino brag about these rights violations in his 4^th State of the Nation Address?” Enriquez, also chairperson of SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto), said.

Aristedes Sarmiento, a former political detainee who was among the “Tagaytay 5”, was rearrested on July 16 in the house of barangay captain Julianita Abuel Lagaya at 51 Mabini St., Bgy.  7, Lucban, Quezon in a joint operation by elements of the  Lucban Municipal Police Station, Regional Intelligence Police Regional Office-CALABARZON, Military Intelligence Group (MIG4), Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP), 1st Special Forces Company, 201st Infantry Brigade, 2^nd Infantry Division, Naval Intelligence Security Group (NISG 4) led by Police Chief Inspector Juan Byron Reyes Leogo, Officer-In-Charge.

Sarmiento was arrested for murder through a warrant of arrest signed by Judge Napoleon E. Matienzo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 62 in Gumaca, Quezon, with no bail recommended.  Named in the warrant are Felicardo Salamat, Arnold Albarillo, Cecilia Mondia with a certain Ruben Estocado who was primarily charged.

From Lucban, Sarmiento was forcibly brought to Camp  Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna through a convoy of military vehicles. Barangay captain Lagaya tailed the convoy up to Camp Vicente Lim but was not allowed to enter the camp. The military told Lagaya, Sarmiento’s family and his legal counsel that Sarmiento was not in the camp.  Sarmiento was only shown to his family midnight of July 16 and only after the family members asked the camp to issue a certification that Sarmiento is not in their custody.

On July 17, Sarmiento was brought to the Gumaca court and was committed to the BJMP Quezon district Jail,  Lucena City. He was again transferred today at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan .

In Bataan, two farmers and a tricycle driver were abducted  by elements of the 703^rd IB-Philippine Army on July 11 in Bgy. Liyang, Pilar. Josue Ortiz, 23, was brought to the 24^th IB-PA headquarters where he was initially kept from his parents and members of the Karapatan quick-reaction team (QRT). After four days in detention, Ortiz was brought to the Bataan provincial court on July 15, and charged with illegal possession of firearms  and explosives.  As the judge is set to hear all cases for commitment order today, July 18, Ortiz was temporarily committed at the Balanga City Jail. FarmerManuel Pacaira and the tricycle driver remain missing as of this date.

During the search, members of the QRT saw Pacaira in an army truck on its way out of the 24^th IBPA camp and to the direction of Pilar, Bataan. He was again seen at the Bataan provincial court premises in Balanga, Bataan on board an truck during Ortiz’s inquest on Monday, July 15.

The 24^th IBPA has been involved in the abduction and disappearance of two missing UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño and the arrest, detention and torture of Raymond Manalo, a witness in the Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño case. The 24^th IB has been designated in 2011 as a “territorial battalion” that integrates Army Reservists into the unit as “holding forces” in areas considered by the government as communist stronghold.

Earlier, on June 28, Juan Pablo Versoza, a member of the Alay Sining UP Diliman, and his wife Grace were illegally arrested in Marikina City through a defective warrant,  with only aliases listed on the warrant. The names of the couple were only inserted in the warrant when they were arrested.

“This government practice of using alias warrants, illegal arrests through fabricated charges to justify its action against ordinary folks shows its desperation. This may be the start of the AFP’s another round escalation of its terror attacks against the people after it has admitted that Oplan Bayanihan is a failure. The human rights violations committed by Noynoy Aquino and his AFP is definitely an act of desperation, indeed a sign of failure and it’s turning its gun against the ordinary people, ” said Hilao-Enriquez. ###

Reference: Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan chairperson, 0917-5616800

Detained guard’s kin ask CA for help

Dennis Carcamo | Philippine Star

January 25, 2013

MANILA, Philippines – The relatives of a security guard arrested for reportedly being a ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines will troop to Court of Appeals in Manila for a hearing on the case, the rights group Karapatan said on Friday.

Karapatan members will join the legal counsels from the National Union of People’s Lawyers and relatives of Rolly Panesa for the hearing of the writ of habeas corpus this afternoon at the CA building in Ma. Orosa St., Ermita, Manila.

Respondents in the case are Insp. Bernardino Camus of Metro Manila District Jail warden, Maj. Gen. Alan Luga of the Southern Luzon Command, Maj. Gen. Eduardo Del Rosario of the 2nd Infantry Division, Chief Superintendent James Melad and Police Senior Superintendent Manuel Abu.

Karapatan said Panesa, a security guard of the Megaforce Security, was arrested on Oct. 5, 2011 by police and military personnel.

The group claimed that Panesa was mistaken for “Benjamin Mendoza”, whom the military alleged as a high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Philippines with a bounty of P5.6 million.

Free Rolly Panesa! Defend the Sanctity of Life!

Church workers from Promotion of Church People’s Response, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Iglesia Filipina Independiente held a liturgical service outside the Court of Appeals

The Task Force Free Rolly Panesa composed of different religious and faith based group and individuals deplore the continuous illegal detention and violation of basic rights of Rolly Panesa and other political detainees under Aquino’s watch.   These violations, despite serious protests from victims, families and various human rights advocates, continue to perpetuate under Oplan Bayanihan.  Such violations disregard his dignity as a human being, as one created in the image of God.

It will be remembered that on October 5, 2012, Rolly and 3 other members of his family including his wife were abducted by elements of 2^nd Infantry Division, Philippine Army and Philippine National Police along Aurora Blvd. Cubao, Quezon City.  They were handcuffed, blindfolded and interrogated.  Rolly suffered torment and inhumane treatment at the hands of his military captors.  To this day, they insist that he is Benjamin Mendoza, a high ranking communist leader who has a P5.6M bounty upon his capture. They are detaining an innocent man who must be released immediately.

Based on the documents and testimonies presented by the Panesa family, Rolly, 48 years old, who hails from Cadiz City,  Negros Occidental and working as a security guard since 1995 bore no semblance to Benjamin Mendoza except a mole at the nape of his neck.

Under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan, the target to render communist’s insurgency irrelevant poses grave threat to the general public as more and more civilians are accounted victims.  There are more than 300 political detainees, 137 victims of extra-judicial killings, and tens of thousands of forced evacuees among many other violations. On his third year in office, Aquino’s score on human rights unveils what he truly meant by  “peace and development”.

The Voice of God is Calling, Do You Hear His Cry? In the face of this threat to life and dignity, church people are called to speak out and defend the rights, to be a neighbour especially to the least and marginalized. One with conviction, we commit  to the continuing aspirations of many other human rights and peace advocates –  Free Rolly Panesa and other political detainees; Stop human rights violations!

Rolly Panesa’s family files habeas corpus plea

Tetch Torres | Philippine Daily Inquirer

October 30, 2012

MANILA, Philippines—The family of a security guard allegedly taken by the military after he was mistaken to be part of the Communist Party of the Philippines asked the Supreme Court to order his release from detention.

In a 9-page petition for a writ of habeas corpus, Marites Chioco, common-law wife of detained security guard Rolly Panesa, 48, said the military took her husband mistaking him for a certain Benjamin Mendoza, 68, the secretary of the CPP in Southern Luzon with a P5.6-million reward for his capture.

Panesa, she said, was arrested on October 5 by joint elements of the 2^nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army led by Southern Luzon Commander Major General Alan Luga and the Philippine National Police on Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City. She said, she, Panesa and two others were blindfolded. After hours of travel, they learned that they were taken to PNP Regional Office IV at Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna.

Marites Chioco was also detained for hours and forced to admit that she is “Ka Luisa,” the wife of Benjamin Mendoza. Insisting that she is not, she was eventually released. Their two companions – their pregnant daughter and her husband – were also released.

Chioco said authorities refused to release Panesa saying there were warrants for his arrest. The warrants for his arrest, however, according to Chioco, were under the name “Benjamin Mendoza.”

She said Panesa sustained injuries while he was in detention. He is detained at the Security Intensive Care Area (SICA), Metro Manila District Jail for rebellion and frustrated murder.

“By way of emphasis, it must be stated that Rolly’s personal circumstances belie the claims of those who arrested him that he is ‘Benjamin Mendoza,’ and this can be verified through proper inquiry and investigation. Likewise, his employment records, which further establish that he is Rolly Mira Panesa, can be easily verified, since he is employed in a government-regulated industry under the supervision of the same enforcement agency which had him in custody,” the petition stated.

“The warrant of arrest and the commitment order issued against ‘Benjamin Mendoza’ cannot be made as basis for the continued detention of Rolly,” it further stated.

Respondents in the petition include Inspector Bernardino Edgar T. Camus, jail warden of the Security Intensive Care Area (SICA), Metro Manila District Jail; Maj. Gen. Alan Luga, Commanding General of the AFP Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM); Maj. Gen. Eduardo D. del Rosario, Commanding General, 2^nd Infantry Division, Philippine Army; P/CSupt. James Andres B. Melad, Regional Director, Philippine National Police Regional Office IV; and, P/SSupt. Manuel M. Abu, Chief of the Regional Intelligence Office of the PNP Regional Office IV.

“Panesa’s illegal arrest, torture and continued illegal detention on the basis of trumped-up charges showcases the military’s arbitrariness in the conduct of its counterinsurgency program, the Oplan Bayanihan, and the government’s obsession to meet its self-imposed deadline to end the so-called insurgency,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of human rights group Karapatan.