Palparan Men, Cops
Linked to New Abductions in Bulacan, Cebu
BY BULATLAT
Posted 12:30 am, Sept. 4, 2006
Two fishermen were
abducted by ski-masked armed men suspected to be soldiers in Bulacan
province early this morning, even as two others were reported missing in
Cebu since Sept. 1.
A report from the
Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Makataong Karapatan (People’s Alliance
for Human Rights or ALMMA-Bulacan) identified Jerry Martinez, 53, and
Cesar Salamat, 70, who were taken from Martinez’s house in sitio Mindanao,
Sto. Rosario village, Malolos City, Bulacan.
The four suspects,
who were in civilian clothes and wearing ski-masks, beat up the two before
forcibly taking them, eyewitnesses said.
A statement by the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Gitnang Luson blamed the military in Central
Luzon led by Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as responsible for the latest
enforced disappearance. “It bore the same pattern of attacks on unarmed
civilians perpetrated with impunity by Palparan’s men,” the statement
said.
In Cebu province,
lawyer Alfonso Cinco IV of the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s
Rights or Karapatan, reported that two activists snatched by a joint team
of the police and military on Sept. 1 remain missing. Cinco named the
victims as Gerard Lavadia, 32, of Labangon, Cebu City, and former
spokesperson of the defunct Estrada Resign Movement, and Sharon Abangan,
33, of San Isidro village, Talisay City, Cebu province.
Cinco said the two
men had alighted from a taxi in South Central Market, Lawaan I, Talisay
City when pounced upon by suspected members of the Intelligence Service of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) based in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City,
backed by members of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation
and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) and the Criminal Intelligence and Detection
Group (CIDG).
Cinco said witnesses
saw the victims, along with the taxi driver, brought inside the PNP Cebu
City in Camp Sotero Cabahug. That same day, Lavadia was even able to send
a text message to a relative, saying that he was being detained inside the
police camp and asking for help.
On Sept. 2, relatives
of the two men and other activists went to the camp, but the police had
denied having them in custody. During a rally that same day, however, a
certain Inspector Carmona told Abangan’s father Esmeraldo that his son is
fine, and that holding a rally would “only complicate” his son’s release.
Cinco said that the
abduction was connected with a statement by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia-Codilla
declaring all-out war against suspected communists and their supporters
and fronts.
“While Gov. Garcia-Codilla
purports that the declaration is aimed at crushing the New People’s Army,
she virtually issues death warrants to more than half of the Cebuano
population who are members of various militant groups by tagging these as
NPA fronts,” he said. Bulatlat
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