BY BULATLAT
HUMAN RIGHTS/BREAKING NEWS
June 6, 2007 – 4:03 p.m.
Bayan Muna representatives Satur C. Ocampo and Joel Virador condemned the abduction of Gilbert Rey “Jing” Cardino, the partylist group’s chairperson for South Cotabato and regional coordinator for SOCSKSARGEN, at 11:00 a.m. of June 6 at Crossing, Barrio 2, Koronadal City.
The lawmakers called on state security forces to surface Cardino.
Ocampo said state security forces are the principal suspects in Cardino’s enforced disappearance since “the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) have long considered Bayan Muna members as enemies of the state under its counterinsurgency program called Operations Plan Bantay Laya.”
The Supreme Court decision dismissing the rebellion charges against the Batasan 6, the six lawmakers from Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party, Virador said, “should compel the government to stop the violent attacks” against their members.
Cardino’s abduction occurred a day after Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Delfin Bangit snubbed the hearings of the Commission on Human Rights over the April 28, 2007 disappearance of Jonas Burgos, the activist son of press freedom icon Joe Burgos.
The 27-year old Cardino is the youngest member of Bayan Muna’s National Council, the partylist group’s second-highest governing body which is equivalent to the national directorates of major political parties.
