Four Peasant
Activists Missing in
Central Luzon
BY BULATLAT
Posted 12:23 p.m., June 28, 2006
Three peasant activists in Bulacan and
another in Nueva Ecija are missing since June 26, Karapatan-Central
Luzon (Alliance for the Advancement of
Peoples' Rights-CL) said.
Sherlyn Calapan, 25, Karen Impenio, 23
and Manuel Merina, 56 were abducted allegedly by soldiers belonging to
the 71st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IB PA)
June 26 at about 2 a.m. in Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulacan, Fr.
Rollie de Leon, spokesperson of Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Pantaong
Karapatan (ALMMA or People’s Alliance for Human Rights) said.
All victims are members of the Alyansa
ng mga Magbubukid sa Bulakan (AMB or Bulacan Peasant Alliance), a
provincial chapter of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL
or Central Luzon Peasant Alliance).
In another incident, Christian Ereño,
22, was abducted in Barangay Plapla, San Isidro, Nueva Ecija (100 km.
north of Manila) on June 27. Ereño is a member of AMGL-Nueva Ecija.
The human rights group claimed that
two fact-finding teams investigating the disappearances were being
harassed by military men in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan.
Sr. Cecile Ruiz, Karapatan-Central
Luzon secretary general, said that their 15-person fact-finding team in
San Isidro town, Nueva Ecija was harassed by some 50 soldiers. The
soldiers, who followed the team while on board three armored personnel
carriers, took the names and ID of the human rights workers.
In Bulacan, De Leon said that members
of the fact-finding mission complained that armed men on board a green
Delica van with plate number RMB 981 and a motorcycle tailed team in
Hagonoy.
Yesterday June 27, De Leon said
soldiers stationed at the army detachment in Barangay Hangga, Hagonoy
had denied taking the three in their custody when a fact finding mission
went to the detachment in search of the victims.
The abductions came in the wake of the
June 16 declaration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that she will
end the insurgency in "critical areas" in two years, and the deployment
of troops in 12 cities and 118 municipalities in the region by Maj. Gen.
Jovito Palparan, head of the 7th Infantry Division camped in
Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.
Soldiers were subsequently deployed in
at least 30 villages in the towns of Hagonoy, Sta. Maria, Obando,
Bulacan and Malolos City. Bulatlat
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