HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH
Missing
Alleged Red Leader Surfaces in Mindoro Police Jail
NDFP Says Serrano is covered by immunity guarantee;
demands his release
“Sandali
lang, parang naiiyak ako” (Just a second, I feel like crying). Those were
the first words human rights workers heard from Eduardo Serrano, alleged NPA
leader from the Southern Tagalog region, nine days after he was held
incommunicado by his military captors. After days of searching for him at
various jails in Manila and
Southern Tagalog, they finally tracked him at the Calapan City Jail in the
island of Mindoro.
By
dabet castañeda
Bulatlat.com
Eduardo
Serrano (center) with brothers Benito (extreme left)
and Tomas (extreme right): and IFI priests Photo courtesy of
Karapatan
“Sandali
lang, parang naiiyak ako” (Just a second, I feel like crying). Those were
the first words human rights workers heard from Eduardo Serrano, alleged NPA
leader from the Southern Tagalog region, nine days after he was held
incommunicado by his military captors. After days of searching for him at
various jails in Southern Tagalog, they finally tracked him at the Calapan City
Jail in Mindoro, an island southwest off Manila.
Serrano,
51, is a native of Naga City, Camarines Sur.
He is the eldest of nine children. His
father was a government employee while his mother was a simple homemaker.
He
studied as an agricultural technician at the University of the Philippines in
Los Baños, Laguna, a province south of Manila.
According
to his brother, Tam Serrano, Eduardo later on became a peasant organizer. “Kaya siya nasa probinsya” (That’s why
he’s in the province), the 36-year old Tam said.
Tam
said he last saw Eduardo15 years ago in a family reunion in their hometown in
Bicol. “Nung nakita ko ulit
s’ya, nasa dyaryo na” (The next time I saw him, it was in the
newspapers), he said.
On
May 2, Serrano, together with two women companions, was abducted by intelligence
agents at the Tritran bus terminal in Lipa City, Batangas.
The
following day, Serrano, along with the two women, was presented to the press by
the Intelligence Service Group of the Philippine Army (ISG-PA) as “Rogelio
Villanueva a.k.a. Ka Makling” whom the military alleged is a high-ranking
communist leader in Mindoro.
It
was the last time that he was seen because the next day, May 4, he went missing.
Lawyers, human rights workers from the human rights alliance Karapatan
(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), and his family searched for
him, going from one military camp to another.
The
military however denied any knowledge of Serrano’s whereabouts. His youngest
brother Cesar, with the help of the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) lawyers
Marie Yuvienco and Edre Olalia, filed a writ of habeas corpus at the Rizal
Regional Trial Court in Pasig City.
Rebel consultant
Meanwhile,
in a statement emailed to Bulatlat.com, the National Democratic Front of
the Philippines (NDFP) said that Serrano must be released immediately because he
is covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).
The
NDFP pointed out that Serrano was “one of the participants during
consultations conducted by Mr. Fidel Agcaoili and Ms. Coni Ledesma while they
were in the Philippines from April 11 to May 2 in connection with the formation
of the Joint Secretariat of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC).”
Agcaoili
and Ledesma are both members of the NDFP Negotiating Panel in the ongoing peace
negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and
the NDFP. They are also members of
the JMC.
Agcaoili
added that, “The only reason Mr. Serrano agreed to take time out from his work
among the masses in the Mindoro provinces was to attend to our consultations.”
As
a participant to the consultations, Serrano is covered by the JASIG and should
have been guaranteed safety from arrest “in going to, attending, and leaving
the consultations to return to his area of work,” Agcaoili said.
First hearing
Had
human rights workers not found Serrano, he would still be without counsel and
unable to communicate with his family.
In
the first hearing held May 11 for the writ of habeas corpus filed against Maj.
Pedro Cabuay, commanding officer of the 2nd Infantry Division of the
PA and several other military and police officers from the ISG-PA and the
Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) PNP, the military failed to
present Serrano.
The
hearing was held at Branch 155 of the Rizal RTC under Judge Luis Tongco. The
military officers were represented by lawyer Jose Bautista.
Bautista
said Serrano was detained at the army’s 204th Infantry Brigade
headquarters in Naujan, Mindoro Oriental and that transporting Serrano from
Mindoro to Pasig City entailed “a great security risk.”
Bautista
also said that all public officers, including the accused military and police
officers, were “busy” because of the elections.
Finding
these reasons irrational, Serrano’s lawyers asked the military to abide by the
order of the court to present Serrano in the next hearing.
Bautista
then told the court that they could only present Serrano after 10 days. Olalia
protested that 10 days were “too long” and insisted that his client be
presented to court after three days therefore setting the next hearing on May
14.
Meanwhile,
the court allowed Serrano’s family and supporters to visit him at the military
camp in Naujan.
When
Serrano’s two brothers, Dr. Reginald Pamugas, Pastor Dionito Cabillas, IFI,
and other human rights workers traveled to Naujan on May 12, the military once
again denied having Serrano in custody.
It
was Girlie Padilla, acting secretary general of the church-based human rights
group Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP), who called long distance
from Manila to Mindoro and found Serrano at the Mindoro Oriental provincial
jail.
The
group was already on board a ferry on the way back to Manila when it received
the call from Manila saying where Serrano was.
The
team then decided to return to Mindoro.
The jail visit
Finally,
at around 4 p.m., the team found Serrano detained at the Bureau of Jail and
Management Penology (BJMP) in Calapan City.
Its members conducted a medical check up and took his statement.
“We’re
glad he’s doing fine,” said Ben who saw his eldest brother after 15 long
years of separation. Ben, a
community photographer, took pictures of his brother while being attended to by
the doctor and while being interviewed by human rights workers.
(For
details of the conversation between Serrano and the members of the team, please
see related article: Serrano's side.)
The second hearing
On
May 14 at around 2 p.m., about 50 of Serrano’s family, friends and supporters
waited anxiously in front of the Hall of Justice of the Rizal RTC where Serrano
was supposed to be presented by the military.
To
his family and supporters’ dismay, Serrano was not presented in court anew.
Military
counsel Bautista said they were not and will not present Serrano to court for
the very reason that the petitioner is already not in their custody. The custody has been transferred to the Calapan court where
he is facing charges of murder, frustrated murder, attempted murder and
rebellion.
Bautista
likewise implied that Serrano also faces charges of multiple murder, frustrated
murder and robbery at the Pinamalayan RTC, also in Mindoro.
The
military counsel presented affidavits of witnesses
Milandro Como, Nestor Asuncion and Joselito Taurino who, according to
Bautista, are rebel returnees.
Grand design
Human
rights lawyer Olalia, who was exasperated over the turn of events, said it was a
“grand design” by the military to turn over the custody of Serrano to the
Calapan RTC to evade the case against them.
“I
am really amazed and amused at the same time,” Olalia told the court.
He
said the non-production of the petitioner is an open defiance of the law.
“Not even in the time of Benigno Aquino and Jose Maria Sison did the
military do this,” he said.
He
also said that the military “produced spurious affidavits” referring to the
affidavits of the rebel returnees who implied that Eduardo Serrano, Rogelio
Villanueva and Ka Makling are “one and the same person.”
He
also pointed out that the warrants of arrests presented to court by the military
to justify the arrest and detention of Serrano did not have the name “Eduardo
Serrano.” The only names present
were that of Rogelio Villanueva and a certain Ka Makling. Bulatlat.com
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