HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Flood of Hope

They have gone through hell, so not even high waters could stop the parents and relatives of the three missing persons who went searching in Bulacan, chasing after reports of supposed bodies found.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

COME HELL OR HIGH WATERS: Parents of the missing UP students brave rains and floods in search of their children PHOTO BY BY DABET CASTAÑEDA

HAGUNOY, Bulacan (52 kms north of Manila)- The wind and heavy rains of typhoon Florita failed to dampen the determination of the families and friends of three missing persons who went on a daylong search in this town. Karen Empeño, Sherlyn Cadapan and Manuel Merino have been missing since their dawn abduction on June 26 in San Miguel, a peasant village in Hagunoy.  Karen and Sherlyn are both students of the University of the Philippines while Manuel is an organizer of the peasant organization in the province. They were doing research when seized by suspected soldiers. At 10 p.m., on Thursday, July 13, a report reached the families of the victims that four bodies have been found in a village near the detachment of the 701st Infantry Battalion and the Citizens Armed Force Geographical Unit or CAFGU in Barangay (village) San Pedro, same town.

Promptly, families and friends of the three together with Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) formed a team to verify if the bodies were those of the three. A search was scheduled in the morning of July 14.

Husband and wife Concepcion and Oscar Empeno, Erlinda Cadapan and members of the human rights group Karapatan formed the search team.  Together with reporters from the three major television stations and photographers from a major daily and the wires, they left at 8 a.m. for Hagunoy, braving the heavy rains.

Sherlyn’s mother, Erlinda broke down as soon as the team reached the town’s municipal hall to pay a courtesy call to the mayor, the municipal health officer and the police chief.

Police investigators said they also received a call from an unidentified person who reported that four bodies were seen floating in a river near the military detachment. They said they have searched for the bodies twice, once at midnight of July 13 and at around 7 a.m. the next day, but did not find any.

When Mrs. Cadapan recovered her composure, the team headed for the military detachment five kilometers away from the town’s hall. The 10-meter walk from the road to the detachment’s gate was the first flooded area the team had to pass. Some took off their shoes while others rolled up their pants as floodwater went up to the knees.

People from the neighborhood started filling the streets, thinking that the search team and media came to bring relief goods. Classes had been suspended by the municipal government in an effort to save the children from getting wet but the kids were not prevented from going to the streets to wave at the cameras.  The village residents were unaware of the abductions and the grief of the searching families. No one was allowed to enter the detachment. A lone officer talked to the team at the gate. As expected, he denied having seen the bodies. The team proceeded to the nearby village of Bangungon but residents said they had no idea regarding the bodies as well.

A human rights worker from Bulacan confers with Hagunoy local police investigators PHOTO BY BY DABET CASTAÑEDA

It was lunchtime but nobody was complaining. All just wanted to go on with the search.  Karen’s father, 56-year old Oscar, said he had gone here without eating breakfast as well. “Ayos lang, sanay ako. Dati nag-hunger strike ako ng 27 days nung tinaggal ang officers ng union namin sa bangko,” (It’s okay, I’m used to it.  I once went on hunger strike for 27 days when my company laid off our union officers.) he said.

The team proceeded to the nearby village of Sta. Elena where military detachments once stood. The team split into two groups, one proceeded to the site of the military detachment in Sitio Buga while the other went to another detachment in Sagrada Familia, a neighboring village.

The heavy rains caused knee high floods on the road. At this point, some vehicles could not pass through the floodwaters and most members of the team were forced to walk for about a kilometer.

This reporter went with the team that proceeded to the former military detachment, which, the residents said, was beside the village’s new school. From the main road, the team walked for another kilometer until it found the village school and beside it, an abandoned house.

Two tough women who reached the area first started to look around the backyard of the abandoned house.  They jumped from one hump to another trying to find any sign of a gravesite.

A vendor who passed by said the military detachment was actually the school itself as the soldiers stayed there while they built it. The vendor however added that the soldiers also used the abandoned house sometimes. The vendor added that the military had left two weeks ago. 

The vendor led this reporter to the caretakers of the abandoned house, an old man and his wife who were, at first, hesitant to open the house for inspection. Later, the old man obliged and opened the door with the tip of a hammer.

The house was empty except for some old, used clothes, wood and a few pails and basins. The smell of a decomposing body came from a dead chicken.

The rains kept falling and darkness was soon to set in. The team decided it was all for now.

When this group met the members of the other group, there were smiles in the faces of the victims’ parents. Mrs. Cadapan had even managed to laugh a bit while asking this group what it had discovered.

With everyone soaked in the rain and flood, the team finally decided to leave. Some had managed to smile and give each other a pat on the back. Some left feeling unsatisfied.

Families of the victims will file a writ of habeas corpus on Monday, July 17. Bulatlat

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