By Jian Zharese Joeis Sanz 
Bulatlat.com

MANILA –  Youth groups in Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) demand the release of a student who was among the more than 200 individuals brutally arrested by the police last Sunday, Sept. 21. 

Daniel Gio Caballes, an engineering student, resident artist and a student leader at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) was just documenting the protest when the police arrested him. Now, he is facing charges of tumults and other disturbances of public order, direct assault upon an agent of a person in authority and resistance and serious disobedience to an agent of a person in authority filed by the Manila Police District Baseco Police Station.  

Several youth groups in the university expressed indignation over Caballes’ arrest who, they said, was also tortured inside detention. 

“We view this incident as a serious violation of human rights and a direct affront to the academic community,” PUP ITECH Engineering Technology Department said in a statement. PUP Polysound Band, one of Caballes’ organizations, echoed the same demand. 

After his inquest, a release order was issued on the condition that a bail of P60,000 ($1,030) must be posted.

Arrest all in ‘black’

In an online interview with Bulatlat, Pearl Micah Arceo, a close friend of Caballes and the President of PUP CADBE Student Council, recounted seeing Caballes in Luneta, where anti-corruption protesters held a program before marching to Mendiola. “I saw Gio at Luneta. I wasn’t able to greet him since I was attending to something, and he was already taking pictures then.”

Caballes is the Council Director of Mass Media and Communications and Head of the Documentation Committee under the PUP COE SC. He’s also well-known as a contributing documentor to student publications and organizations across the university. 

Arceo said that based on Caballes’ narrative, he was just waiting for the situation to cool down in a medical store after the commotion broke out in Mendiola. Moments later, Caballes was brutally arrested by shielded police officers with an arnis stick as the order was to arrest all those who were wearing black. This was echoed in Atty. Mark Vincent Lim’s Facebook post, which revealed that many protesters denied throwing objects or causing damage and were arrested just for being present and wearing black.

On that same day, Caballes was detained at the MPD Baseco Police Station, during which he was prohibited from writing a narrative and accessing legal assistance. On Sept. 22, at 6 p.m., paralegals from Defend PUP tried to access Caballes as reported in their Facebook video, but the police denied them access to Caballes. 

Paralegals and legal teams were only allowed to visit Caballes on Sept. 23, when he faced an inquest. According to Tiffany Faith Brillante’s post, one of Caballes’ paralegals has been waiting to visit the student leader since the afternoon. 

On Sept. 24, at 1 p.m., family, close friends, and the legal team of Caballes were given access to him. But Brillante said they were once again denied permission to visit him. This was backed by The Catalyst, stating that communication with Caballes was difficult as only his family was allowed to visit. 

PUP COE SC President Chancy Jenine Valerio revealed in an online interview with Bulatlat that, based on Caballes’ narrative and his legal team’s report, he was tortured and physically abused under police custody. He was kicked, beaten, and threatened during detention, resulting in bruises and wounds, this Valerio said, is a clear violation of RA 9745 or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009. Other than this, the police’s act of depriving Caballes’ right to have legal access in the first 36 hours of his detention, is a violation of the Article 125 of the Revised Penal Code. 

Student photographer, artist, leader

Arceo recalled meeting Caballes last year because he often borrowed lights for his photography.  As both of their councils occupy the same office, they easily became close friends. 

She described Caballes as a kind and a passionate photographer, who is seen as a brother figure by many of his juniors. She also recalled Caballes’ jolly and talkative nature, who often checks up on her whenever they meet. 

“You can not describe Gio without his hobby (photography),” Arceo also stressed, as Caballes was a well-known documenter to the point that he has become a go-to source for images of mass leaders during protests.  

For Valerio, Caballes’ hardworking nature extends beyond academe to public service. He is also known as a wise and loyal student leader who is always willing to sacrifice for the sake of the student masses. Caballes also often attended protests, though often as a documenter, but with the same conviction, which is to demand a better system for the student masses.  

Other than these, Caballes is also a resident artist at PUP. He is one of Polysound PUP’s guitarists. 

Police brutality causing trauma

Arceo herself has experienced police violence multiple times in her years as a student activist. She recounted that once, she was nearly run over by a  police mobile during a protest last year – an experience Arceo laughed off as a way of coping. That is why the violence last Sept. 21, she said, is frightening and triggering.  

She recounted that while waiting for the situation to cool down inside a fast-food chain around 4:40 p.m. on Sept. 21, police elements entered and looked for anyone wearing black. During the time, Arceo and her acquaintances had luckily changed clothes. Diners and staffs were silent; despite this, Arceo felt the eerie fear in the atmosphere. Out of fear, the fast-food establishment decided to close when the police left, earlier than their usual closing time.  

In her conversation with older individuals, even persons with disability and the elderly, who are just bystanders, were arrested along the streets of Recto. 

Arceo called to drop all trumped-up charges against Caballes. Moreover, she called for fellow scholars to continue demanding for Caballes’ release. 

Meanwhile, Brillante called on scholars to take inspiration in the detainees’ strength. “Let us change the system that continuously oppresses us while people like Discaya, DPWH, corrupt senators and congressmen, and Marcos Jr. himself freely plunder public funds,” she said. (AMU, RTS)