Peasant organizations Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA, Union of Agricultural Workers) condemned the abduction, arrest and detention of their colleague.
BY BULATLAT
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Peasant organizations Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA, Union of Agricultural Workers) condemned the abduction, arrest and detention of their colleague.
Felicidad “Pidad” Caparal, UMA organizer, was allegedly abducted January 27 by state security forces in Northern Samar. She was held incommunicado and missing for nine days.
On February 5, the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Arthur Tabaquero presented her to the local media as a top-ranking member of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Caparal is now detained at the Dangcalan Provincial Jail in Northern Samar. She has been charged with multiple murder in relation to an NPA ambush in Catarman, Northern Samar on December 30, 2002 where two soldiers were killed.
Wilfredo Marbella, KMP deputy secretary general, dismissed the allegations of the military. He said that for months, Caparal was in Manila, joining them in their mass actions.
Marbella said Caparal is not a member of the NPA. “The military is lying in front of the public,” he said.
Jay Calaguing, UMA public information officer, said Caparal is a staff member of the UMA national office. “We organize agricultural workers and coordinate their mass actions to advance their interests for genuine land reform, livable wages and working conditions,” he said.
Calaguing related that Caparal went to Northern Samar to get her sick mother and bring her to Manila for medication.
Calaguing said that on January 27, Caparal lost contact with her husband. Calaguing added, “ We believe she was abducted after getting off the boat connecting Sorsogon and Samar island, because that was the time she ceased texting her husband.”
The groups vowed to file charges against Caparal’s abductors.
Marbella said, “We had enough of the Arroyo government’s political persecution of our leaders and members. Caparal is the second activist from the national offices of peasant organizations that is now in prison.”
Randall Echanis, KMP deputy secretary general for external affairs, was arrested in Negros Occidental on January 28 last year. He is now detained at the Manila City Jail.
Calaguing denounced the systematic harassment to the peasant movement.
The UMA also said they will raise the issue to the global Coalition of Agricultural Workers (CAW). They called for the immediate release of Caparal and Echanis.(Bulatlat.com)
