Behind Bars: Jerry Rom, 16

Political imprisonment in the Philippines spares no one, not even minors.  One case is that of Jerry Rom, 16 years old.  Jerry, accused of being a member of the New People’s Army (NPA), was on his way to a Valentine’s party when arrested.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat.com

First things first. Jerry Rom is in fact not really Jerry Rom. He is Jinny Cedot Martinez who comes from a poor peasant family in Barangay (village) Roxas, Burauen, Leyte.  He used to work as a farm helper. The military claims Jerry Rom was his alias. 

But inside the Burauen municipal jail in Leyte, a province in the eastern part of Visayas, where he is being detained, he is neither Jerry nor Jinny.  Other detainees have labeled him Kumander or simply called “Taloy.” 

The arrest

According to reports by the human rights alliance Karapatan, Jerry, together with a friend and two of his cousins, was on his way to a Valentine’s Day dance in a nearby village when he was arrested by members of the 19^th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA).

They were then asked to pinpoint alleged NPA camps in the area.  “Nasuko ang mga armi nga wala mi makatudlo og kampo sa NPA, mao nga gipusil ko (The soldiers got mad at me when we were not able to point NPA camps, so they shot me),” Jerry said in the vernacular. 

The gunshot wound he sustained left a seven-inch mark on the left side of his neck. 

But Jerry said he was able to run away from their captors as it was very dark.  Reaching the neighboring village, he asked assistance from Eutiquio Polangcos for whom he works as a farm helper.  Polangcos attended to his wound and hid him for the night. 

The following day, Feb. 15, Jerry was brought to a relative, Pedring Rom, who then brought him to the town hall in Albuera to seek medical assistance from authorities.  But instead of getting medical attention, he was interrogated by the police regarding his gunshot wound.

At about 12 p.m., soldiers from the same military unit that he encountered the night before took him to the army patrol base in Albuera.  Unmindful of his wound, he said the military subjected him to a series of tactical interrogations. 

The military’s claims

The 19^th IBPA claims Jerry was part of the NPA group which they encountered at around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2003 in Sitio Bilisong, Barangay Damuloan in Burauen. 

In his complaint, Burauen police chief Sr. Insp. Tomas Prejula Barbosa said a firefight ensued between the army and the NPA that resulted in Jerry’s wound.  Three other policemen sustained wounds during the firefight, the complaint read. 

The complaint, however, was only presented at the Burauen Municipal Trial Court (BMTC) on Feb. 17, 2003, 17 days after the supposed encounter and two days after Jerry was arrested. 

This complaint was docketed as Criminal Case No. 9575 at the BMTC in the sala of Presiding Judge Aludia C. Leonido.

The legal battle

Through Public Attorney’s Office (PAO-Burauen) lawyer Buenaventura A. Renomeron, a motion to place Jerry in the custody of his parents was filed on March 5. 

On March 27, the presiding judge issued an order directing the Department of Social Welfare and Development Regional Office (DSWD-RO) to submit a “Child Study Report.” 

After more than three months of illegal detention, the court found probable cause against Jerry and ordered the Leyte provincial warden to detain him while the case is being heard.

Today, Jerry is still detained at the provincial jail together with prisoners accused of common crimes.  He himself is accused of a common crime – multiple frustrated homicide.  He is the youngest in the prison cell.

The DSWD’s report

Far from its duties and obligations as protectors of children and minors, the DSWD slapped Jerry with what Jerry described as malicious and unfounded accusations.

Through its Social Welfare Officer II Alicia Bolante, the DSWD issued a case study report on July 14, stating that: one, Jerry was indeed a member of the NPA; two, Jerry was thankful that the military rescued him from the hostile attitude of the NPA; and three, Jerry was a victim of a wrong ideology and forced membership.

The DSWD, while alluding to Jerry such statements, appealed for his temporary release but the court did not listen.

The Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights in Eastern Visayas (KATUNGOD-SB), the human rights group attending to Jerry’s case, said in a statement that Jerry has been the military’s sacrificial lamb. 

Alex Lagunzad, secretary general of KATUNGOD-SB, said the military, in their inability to run after and locate NPA guerrillas, is using Jerry as a “psy-war pawn” in its counter-insurgency program.

Lagunzad also lashed at Bolante who, he said, was merely toeing the military propaganda line and did nothing to protect the rights of the young detainee.

The province of Leyte holds two other children in prison – Baby Lagado, an infant, and Jason Pegoria, 12, who was also accused of being an NPA.  They were both arrested with their mothers, who are also suspected as NPA members. 

Out of the 310 political prisoners in the country, 18 are minors, three of whom were born in jail. 

Four are Muslim minors now jailed at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Metro Manila.  They were accused of being members of the kidnap for ransom group Abu Sayyaf and are now charged with kidnapping. 

The presence of minors behind bars is proof of the government’s insensitivity on the welfare of the youth. They have been thrown into the company of hardened criminals, hardly conducive to rehabilitation and definitely detrimental to their growth and welfare.

Meanwhile, Jerry hopes the Department of Justice will include his name in the list of prisoners the president will pardon this year. Aside from being a minor, his released could be part of the confidence-building measure by the government for the resumption of the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Thus, Jerry’s incarceration, which started on a Valentine’s Day, will hopefully end on another special occasion, this time, on Christmas Day. Bulatlat.com

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