Hooded 'Witness' a
Military Asset, Says Rights Group
When Jaime Fuentes, a witness of the
Philippine National Police (PNP) in the rebellion charges against six
representatives and six other officials of progressive party-lists,
removed his disguise, he was immediately recognized by volunteers of
Karapatan-ST (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights-Southern
Tagalog) as a military asset who harassed them during a fact finding
mission.
BY DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat
The hooded witness who surfaced last month
to accuse activists, including six progressive party-list legislators, of
allegedly plotting a coup against the Arroyo government is a “military
asset”. Human rights workers bumped into him during a fact-finding
mission in Quezon province.
|
Based on a notarized affidavit presented
to the media last March 30, at least 137 volunteers of Karapatan-ST
(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights-Southern Tagalog chapter)
identified Jaime Beltran Fuentes as the same person who introduced himself
as “Omar”.
Karapatan-ST said that since February 5,
the barangays (villages) of Magsaysay, Burgos and Anonang in
Mulanay town were subjected to aerial bombings and strafing by the 74th
Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IB-PA) under the Southern Luzon
Command (Solcom) as part of a “hot-pursuit” operation against New People’s
Army (NPA) rebels. Karapatan-ST also received reports that cases of
killings, torture, property burning, illegal searches, arbitrary arrests
and manhandling victimizing residents occurred creating fear among the
local populace.
|
Jaime Beltran Fuentes |
A human rights team visited Mulanay
February 8, the day 50-year-old Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) party-list
member Romy Lleobet was found dead with nine gunshot wounds in Sitio
Salungkagay in Burgos village. While the team was resting in a church the
following morning, a certain Colonel Dulay from the Southern Luzon Command
(Solcom) harassed and drove them away, the group said.
Karapatan-ST volunteers took another trip
to Mulanay from Lucena
City February 11 passing through several
military checkpoints.
At around 1:30 p.m., the delegation’s
vehicles were blocked by soldiers when they reached the 74th IB-PA’s
general headquarters situated in barangay Pala Ajos, Catanauan
town. Soldiers conducted an illegal search on the volunteers and their
vehicles. They also took video footages and photographs of the team.
Consequently, human rights workers said
they had a short dialogue with a certain Mariz Panggo of the Civil
Relations Service (CRS) in Fort
Bonifacio, Makati
City. She said she will inform the
battalion commander about the group’s purpose. While talks were going on,
Fuentes or “Omar” appeared and introduced himself as the “ANAD (Alliance
for Nationalism and Democracy) party-list third nominee”.
“Pilit siyang sumisingit sa usapan,”
(He tried to join the dialogue.) Karapatan volunteer Ding Fernandez told
Bulatlat in an interview. “Nang sinita ko siya, medyo nagalit
itong si Omar at sinabing, ‘Hindi n’yo ba ako kilala? Dati akong NPA na
biktima ng OPML. Ano’ng gagawin n’yo rito?
Tutulungan n’yo ang mga NPA?’
”
(When I asked him not to interfere in the dialogue, Omar became angry and
said, “Do you not know me? I was a former NPA rebel who was a victim of
OPML. What are you doing here? Are you going to help the NPA?)
Fernandez recalled that “Omar” irately
went around hurling “ridiculous” accusations, saying that Karapatan is a
“communist front”. The CRS representative later told them not to proceed,
which they did to avoid further harassment. Mulanay’s town mayor Prudencio
Maxino has as well turned down a permit for the mission to visit the
affected villages, the group learned.
Fuentes was presented as a "witness" in
the rebellion charges filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal
Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) against six representatives
and six other officials of Bayan Muna (People First), Anakpawis (Toiling
Masses), and Gabriela Women’s Party. Fuentes claimed he was a former NPA
member and security chief of Vicente Ladlad, a
Bayan Muna official.
The veteran activist denied the
allegation, saying he did not have any bodyguard or security detail. The
six accused party-list congressmen said they did not know Fuentes.
In his counter-affidavit, Ladlad asked the
DOJ panel to exclude the affidavit of Fuentes for "failure to disclose his
true identity to the respondents" and all "so-called evidence which are
incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial and hearsay." He also moved to drop
the case.
Fuentes removed his hat and sunglasses
before the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecuting panel last March 23.
When television cameras showed the footage of Fuentes removing his
disguise, Karapatan-ST volunteers immediately recognized him as “Omar”.
"Kumpirmadong siya nga (si Omar). Paano namin
makakalimutan 'yung ginawa niya sa amin noon?" Fernandez said. (It is
confirmed that he is Omar. How can we forget what he did to us?)
Though the human rights group plans to
return to Mulanay this week to resume the mission, he said no one wants to
see Omar again. Bulatlat
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