Troops Storm Negros House, Arrest 3 Young Activists

In the latest report of military harassment of anti-government critics, three organizers of the Party-list Bayan Muna and AnakBayan were picked up by Army soldiers, interrogated and held in detention last week in Negros. No charges have been filed against the three whom their captors said were NPA guerrillas.

By Karl G. Ombion 
Bulatlat.com/Cobra-ans

BACOLOD CITY – Three community organizers of Bayan Muna and AnakBayan were arrested by troopers of the 61st IB led by certain Army officers Sumagaysay and Perez at around 7 a.m. Feb. 2 at Sitio Tayti, Barangay Molobolo, Cauayan town in southern Negros.

Arrested were Isabel Necessario, 23, of Barangay (village) Bangkerohan, Cadiz City, AnakBayan organizer; Julia Tabat, 31, of Brgy. Payawan, Candoni, a community work volunteer of Kabankalan-based non-government organization PDG and Bayan Muna organizer; and another Bayan Muna organizer Medardo V. Sayosa, 34, of Rizal Street this city.

The military, Staff Sgt. Lorenzo Ibarra of 61st IB PA told reporters, had received reports of sightings of armed elements in Molobolo the day before which prompted them to scour the area. Early Monday they came to a house of a certain couple Annie and Wennie, where they also found the three whom they charged as members of the “communist terrorist movement.”

Seized from the three, Ibarra said, were a fragmentation grenade, one magazine of M16 rifle, medical supplies, permit-to-campaign (PTC) papers, subversive books and documents, and a VHF radio antenna.

NPA guerrillas?

The Army spokesperson insisted that the three were part of a group of New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas who the night before burned a Ceres bus of giant transportation company Vallacar Transit, Inc. in Brgy. Camindangan of neighboring Sipalay City.

Interviewed by Bulatlat.com/Cobra-ans and representatives of human rights groups Karapatan and September 21 movement at the PNP headquarter in Cauayan, however, the three suspects denied the military’s charges.

They said that they were involved in community work and development, and organizing local chapters of Bayan Muna in the hinterland barangays of Cauayan and Sipalay City.

The explosives and other subversive items seized by the soldiers were planted by the military, they said.

Tabat and Sayosa told Bulatlat.com that they were victims of illegal arrest and harassment. They also said that the house of a couple they were helping were illegally searched and the household members harassed.

After their arrest and against their will, the three said, they three were brought to Sitio Haba, of neighboring Candoni town to help the military in their ongoing operations. In the Army’s detachment in Sitio Haba.

Tortured

Tabat said that they were subjected to tactical interrogation. Sayosa alleged that he was kicked by a certain Captain Villasor while trying to deny accusations against them.

In the afternoon, they were brought to the 61st IB headquarter in Brgy Tiling, Cauayan, where they were again subjected to separate tactical interrogations until Tuesday, with their eyes blindfolded by intelligence officers of the 61st IB, and the 303rd Brigaide.

In the course of their interrogation, Sayosa said, the military interrogators introduced allegedly two media persons, one claiming to be a certain Duenas of Radio Natin, a Kabankalan City-based local station, and the other a certain Julius Mariveles of Aksyon Radio, who Sayosa added attempted to appease them and extract “incriminating information.”

Mariveles, former Secretary-General of the militant Bayan, and now news editor of Aksyon Radio (DYEZ) and contributor of The Visayas Daily Courier however denied the namedropping of his name, saying he was in Dumaguete City covering a big news event.

It was only late Tuesday afternoon that the military turned over the three suspects to Insp. Rudy Bico, Chief of PNP Cauayan.

As of press time, Bico said no formal charges have been filed against the three, although the Army is reportedly preparing charges of illegal possession of explosives, war materials, and subversive documents.

Jerome Seballos of Karapatan told Bulatlat.com/Cobra-ans that they want the three victims out of Cauayan detention because the case is pure harassment by the military against people who want to work among the basic masses, and promote the politics of change espoused by Bayan Muna. Bulatlat.com / Cobra-Ans

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