Bulatlat

The search seemed fruitless. But there were disturbing clues that corroborate testimonies given by escaped abductees.

BY RAYMUND VILLANUEVA
Contributed to Bulatlat
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Vol. VII, No. 44, December 9-15, 2007

It was six o’clock and the sun was still hiding behind the eastern mountains that chilly morning of Dec. 4. The Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) office was already awake and buzzing as it prepared for a groundbreaking mission. The Court of Appeals granted the petition for the Writ of Amparo favoring families of two desaperacidos to search for them in four military camps in Central Luzon.
    
Mission participants cradled hot coffee mugs in their hands, hardly touching the pan de sal before them. Mission head, Fr Dionito M. Cabillas, IFI, handed out copies of the court order to members of the team. Last minute instructions were given before the participants piled into two vehicles bound for the main Commission on Human Rights office in Quezon City.

Landmark court order

The Fifth Division of the Court of Appeals granted last Nov. 23 the petition of Leny and Lolita Robiños for the writ of amparo ordering respondents President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes C. Esperon Jr. and Philippine National Police director general Avelino Razon, among others, “…to desist or refrain from approaching, communicating or committing any act which would threaten or violate the(ir) right to life and security…” In the order numbered CC-G.R. WRA No. 00004, the Appelate Court also ordered inspection of the detention cells, offices and areas of the Philippine Army’s 69th Infantry Battallion in Mexico, Pampanga and Bamban, Tarlac as well as the unit’s “mother” 7th Infantry Division in Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.  It also allowed the inspection of the 24th Infantry Battalion detention centers in Limay, Bataan.  
    
The CA found meritorious the statements, supporting documents and testimonies of the petitioners in their appeal for a temporary protection order, inspection order and production order for Romulos Robiños and Ryan Supan. Four armed men wearing military uniforms forcibly took the two from the Robiños house in Barangay (village) Tabon, Angeles City in Pampanga midnight of Nov. 17, 2006. Lolita believed that their attackers were members of the Philippine Army’s 69th Infantry Battalion and were actually looking for her daughter Leny. When they could not find Leny, the men ordered Lolita to knock on Romulos’ house next door and asked for Leny. The men then took Romulos and Ryan who was sleeping over for the night. Before the men left, Lolita was pulled aside, patted on her head and was told: “Sabihin mo sa anak mo na tigilan na ‘yan.” (Tell your daughter to stop what she is doing.) Leny is an organizer of Aguman Da Reng Maglalautang Capampangan (AMC or Alliance of Kapampangan Farmers), the provincial chapter of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines).
    
On the part of the respondents, the Office of the Solicitor-General denied that both the PNP and AFP had any knowledge, participation and responsibility for the abduction of Romulos and Ryan. General Esperon even claimed in his Affidavit of November 13, 2007 that he ordered an investigation by “concerned units.”  The PNP also testified to conducting “an initial investigation.”
    
The CA found that the steps or measures taken by both the AFP and the PNP “fall short of the extraordinary diligence in the performance of duty under the Rule(s).”  The Court said that “…the respondents cannot simply invoke the presumption that official duty has been regularly performed to evade responsibility and liability.”

“Extraordinary diligence”

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) was ordered by the Appellate Court in the same decision to “…coordinate, assist and document the inspection…” of the camps.  The CHR was also directed to “…conduct the inspection of the aforesaid premises within FIVE (5) DAYS” from receipt of the order.
    
But both the CHR and Karapatan received the Court’s Order only on Nov. 29, a Thursday and the eve of a long holiday. Karapatan immediately sought a dialogue with CHR the following Monday, Dec. 3.  Karapatan managed to convince CHR to still implement the order on its last day of effectivity—Dec. 4—and they agreed to visit the four camps. Meanwhile, Karapatan wrote the CA requesting for a five day extension, which was promptly granted.
    
Like the AFP and the PNP however, even the CHR seemed to lack “extraordinary diligence” in implementing the Order.  The Karapatan team, which included Lolita, Fe and Jun Supan—Ryan’s parents—and families of other desaperacidos, were already at the CHR office a few minutes after six. But the CHR team was not ready; its vehicles and drivers failed to show up until it was already past nine in the morning.
    
The mission convoy did not reach CHR’s Region Three office in San Fernando, Pampanga until ten. By then, Director Yasmin Navarro Regino had already made plans without consulting the petitioners. She directed four teams to visit the four subject areas with her leading the CHR team visiting Fort Magsaysay. The mission dispatched in four different directions at 11 o’clock.  
    
Despite a go-ahead from the Karapatan team, the CHR team failed to reach Laur, Nueva Ecija until two o’clock. By then, the families of the disappeared were already questioning the CHR’s obvious lack of enthusiasm. “Y’ung aming seguridad, hindi nila napoprotektahan.  Ine-expect namin nakabuntot sila, naka-convoy.  Pero hindi, kanya-kanya” (They didn’t protect our security. We expected them to follow us in a convoy. But no, they left us on our own), Lolita said.
    
Even in “inspecting” the detention cells, the CHR was at best, perfunctory. Director Regino was swift in her resignation that the CA order was “limiting to very specific parts of the subject area.” The CHR group also kept to themselves during the tour and hardly assisted the families. “Pinabayaan kami.  Parang hindi kami binigyan ng proteksyon.  Basta bahala na lang kami” (They neglected us. It was as if we had no protection. It was up to us), Lolita added.    

“Ryan, anak, ‘and’yan ka ba?”

Notified five days before the inspection, the 7th ID was given five full days to prepare for the visit. Division chief of staff Col Leonido Bongcawil managed to clown and joke around. He took the team to the brig for soldiers with pending administrative and criminal cases. But he refused to show the team the brig’s 2006 logbook. Bongcawil also took the inspection team to a motorized tour of the camp facilities, except for the Special Operations Command camp, which he said was “off limits.”

In Fort Magsaysay’s old hospital, however, the team insisted on walking around the abandoned premises. The families entered every room and inspected every nook and cranny. Fe Supan, Ryan’s mother kept calling for her son, shouting, “Ryan, si nanay ito!  Sumagot ka kung ‘and’yan ka” (Ryan, son, this is your mother. Answer back if you’re there). Lolita joined in a few minutes later. Only the blank walls replied with echoes of their cries.

The search seemed fruitless. But there were disturbing clues that corroborate testimonies given by escaped abductees. In an empty hall inside the old hospital, the team saw a steel pot with leftover rice. They also saw paper targets riddled with bullets that had familiar faces drawn on them. At the edge of the camp’s airport runway, the team talked to some farmers who confirmed there are “safehouses” beyond a nearby clump of trees and a stream. This was clearly described by abductees who escaped from Fort Magsaysay.  When shown Ryan’s picture, one soldier said that he looked familiar but the person on the picture was introduced as a soldier-trainee.

The search goes on

The sun was about to set and the team had to go back to Manila.  Reluctantly, the families agreed it was time to go. “Except for the chance of entering the dreaded Fort Magsaysay for the first time, this inspection is disappointing,” Fr. Cabillas said.  He noted that the CHR did not ask the police to provide police escort to the group and they did not insist in inspecting the camp porper that could have given the teams more clues for future searches and inspections.  

Karapatan documentation committee coordinator Lovella de Castro was more forthright with her assessment of the CHR’s performance. “The writ of amparo is worthless if the CHR is unprepared and unwilling to perform.  They (the CHR team) are incompetent,” she said.
    
“Syempre, malakas ang loob ng mga sundalo na gawin tayong parang turista sa loob ng kampo. Mahaba ang panahon nila na ilipat ang aming mga anak” (Of course, are daring enough to have us go around like tourists. They had a long-enough time to transfer our children), Lolita said.

The team found out later that the CHR teams that visited Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac came back with a negative report. They said the camps listed in the order no longer existed.

The CHR also denied the petitioner’s request to inspect the camps, as provided by the later CA Order.  The Commission simply said they cannot decide on more visits until its San Fernando office submits its report.

“Parang wala silang pagpapahalaga sa buhay ng aming mga anak, sa aming paghihinagpis na naghahanap ng aming mga nawawala” (It’s as though they care nothing about our childrens’ lives, about our grief while searching for our missing loved ones), Lolita said. Contributed to Bulatlat