This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com).
Vol. VI, No. 20, June 30, 2006
UP Studes, Teachers Demand Release of Abducted
Students
BY JHONG DELA CRUZ The University of
the Philippines Student Council (UPSC), the UP-Congress of Teachers for
Nationalism and Democracy (Contend), and the League of Filipino Students
(LFS) held a press conference, 10:30 a.m. today at the Palma Hall of UP
Diliman to condemn the abduction of two UP students last Monday, June
26, in Bulacan (52 kms from Manila). They also demanded that the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) immediately release the two students and
their farmer companion. The abduction occurred
after government pronouncements of the transfer of 1,500 military troops from
Mindanao to Luzon and the recall of 3,000 troops from security detail for
deployment to critical areas. In an earlier report,
posted June 28, the three were identified as members of the Alyansa ng mga
Magbubukid sa Bulakan (AMB or Peasant Alliance of Bulacan). The two UP students are
Karen Empeño, 23, and Sherlyn Cadapan, 25. Empeno is a graduating Sociology
student of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and a member of the
League of Filipino Students. When she was abducted, Empeno was conducting a
research on the farmer’s situation in Hagonoy to complete her thesis this
semester. Cadapan is a triathlete
from the College of Human Kinetics and a college representative to the Student
Council. She was doing community organizing for Anakbayan (Sons and Daughters of
the People), a militant youth group, at the time of the abduction. The two students were
abducted together with Manuel Merino, 56, a local farmer. The three were
forcibly taken from the house where they were staying by six heavily armed men
wearing black ski masks. UP students and teachers
reiterated the accusation of the Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Pantaong Karapatan,
(ALMMA, or People’s Alliance for Human Rights) that soldiers from the 71st
Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army were the perpetrators of the
abduction. UP council chair Paolo
Alfonso told Bulatlat, “No other group has a motive to abduct the three
but the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Central Luzon, under the command of
Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan.” “We hold the military and
the Arroyo regime responsible for this violation,” he added. Roland Tolentino, chair of
UP-Contend said in a statement, “(This abduction) makes atrocious the human
rights record of Arroyo…and an encroachment on U.P. of her fascist rule.” He said the abduction is
“tantamount to the breakdown of liberal education.” On June 17, President
Arroyo ordered the release of a P1 billion fund to augment the
counter-insurgency drive against the Communist Party of the Philippines and its
armed-wing the New People’s Army. The declaration followed
the deployment of battalions of soldiers from Mindanao to regions which the AFP
believes to be hotbeds of the NPA, including Central Luzon. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Media Center Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Posted 5:12 p.m.,
June 30, 2006